Halloween Valentine
by butimbroken
Summary: Buffy/Angel. After Buffy runs away from home, her father sends Angelus after her. Mature Themes. AU Story. COMPLETE.
1. Chapter 1

**Not Mine.**

Angel growled out into the darkened room. His phone was ringing. Again. For the fourth time. Reaching out, Angel switched on his bedside light and felt around until he found was and tried to get his eyes used to the light.

"What the hell do you want, Rayne?" Angel growled.

On the other end of the line, Ethan chuckled. Liam was one of the very few who were able to speak to him such a manner and get away with it.

"Yes, hello, Liam," he spoke, a hint of laughter still in his tone, "Sorry for calling you at this time of night... but there is something I need you to do."

Angel sighed, reaching one hand down to his alarm clock and reading the numbers."Now?!"

"No, not exactly at this minute..."

"Well, in that case, why the hell are you waking me up?" he demanded.

"Liam, if you would let me finish..." Ethan paused for a beat before continuing, "No, not right at this very second, but given the situation, I thought you might want to know as soon as possible."

Angel sighed out loud once again. "Want to know what?" he finally asked.

"What it is I am wanting you to do."

Angel growled. "You're pissing me off, Rayne. And this isn't the time for it. So what is it already so that I can either agree to or just go ahead and tell you to fuck off already, but in either way, I can get back to getting some damn sleep?"

Ethan let out another soft chuckle. "I want you to go to Sunnydale," he spoke after another small beat, a smirk forming on his lips as the words left him.

On the other line, Angel went completely silent. Sucking in a deep breath, a thousand images came flying at him all of a sudden of a certain young blonde he didn't know but certainly knew of.

"What... What do you want me there for?" he finally spoke.

"Well, as you may know, Buffy ran off to that dreadful small town not too long ago and apparently she has it in her head that she wants to stay. I want someone to go there and watch over her."

Buffy Summers wasn't truly Ethan's daughter, but that never really matter to either of them nor anyone else for that matter.

"Liam?" Ethan question after a few long silent filled moments passed.

"Babysitting really isn't my thing, Ethan," Angel said, his mind racing with too many thoughts all at once. His emotions not too far behind from this bit of news flying at him out of nowhere.

The older man's face turned into a large grin back in his home. He knew things better than that. "True, but I trust you Liam and I know that you'll protect her. That's something I want, something that I very much need."

Standing up, Angel started to pace around his bedroom thinking this over, trying to not get overexcited, trying to weigh the options, trying to think clearly, trying to grasp onto something to keep him from agreeing.

"I thought you had decided to give her some space."

Ethan sighed. "I am. I'm giving her... limited space..."

"Great," he mumbled. Angel closed his eyes, coming to a stop in the middle of the floor, rubbing a hand down his face. "Do I have an actual choice in this?"

"Of course you do Liam, it's just... I would much rather you accepted is all."

"Rayne, you know there are... reasons... as to why I haven't..." he sighed heavily. "I just don't think..."

Of course he knew, that's why he had called. "Liam, yes or no," he cut him off.

Taking his sweet time in answering, he finally growled out "Fine. But can we talk about all the details in the morning huh?"

"Of course," he said, smiling broadly once again, "Thank you, Liam. I will call you in the morning."

"Whatever," he said and quickly hung up the phone. He closed his eyes and then swung the cellphone toward the wall, a few curses following. Trying to stop himself before he started shaking or letting his mind catch up with all of this, he went and got back into the bed. He turned off the light and hoped to God he knew what he was getting himself into.

Ethan on the other hand just clapped his hands together, setting the phone down. He couldn't have been happier.

OoOoO

Just because she wasn't surprised, it didn't mean she wasn't pissed. As in truly, very pissed.

"Buffy dear, how are..."

"Why were all of my things taken and moved?" she demanded hotly into the phone, cutting her father off. "Why are there moving vans here? What in the world is it that you think you are doing? Why can't you understand that I..."

"Buffy, calm down."

"I will not calm down! I ran away for a reason, Dad!"

Ethan sighed. "I'm not forcing you to come back, Buffy, I just... I want to make sure that you're okay is all. I want..."

"I am okay, perfectly okay. I can survive on my own you know. I don't need anyone to look after me."

"_I_ need someone to."

"No," she replied stubbornly.

"Buffy..." he sighed again, "He will be there tomorrow."

"I do not want nor do I need anyone to..."

"His name is Angelus. Liam Angelus."

"Great," she started, pacing, her anger flaring, her free hand flying wildly into the air in frustration, "So, not only are you treating me like a child and sending someone out here to babysit me, but a stranger no less?!"

She heard him start to reply with something but she slammed the phone close and then she screamed. Life was so unfair.

OoOoO

Angel rolled his window down and lowered his sunglasses, staring around at the small town in disgust. He already hated it. Hell, he hated it before he'd even got here.

Buffy could have ran away to anywhere in the world, why she chose here he couldn't fathom.

Angel shook his head then rolled the window back up and looked back at his driver. He slipped his shades back down to his nose and rested his head back.

'Soon.'

OoOoO

Buffy took in some deep breaths then looked around as box after box was carried in, as the furniture was carted in and moved around being put into place.

She looked on as her freedom slipped away.

She growled low in her throat once more and then hurried to grab at her coat and her purse, not bothering with anything more, and started for the door.

Buffy threw it open in a huff and stomped out, immediately finding herself connecting to a hard chest with an "Omph!" falling from her lips. She tumbled back and caught her breath as she glared upward.

"Get back in the house," came quite the order.

Buffy barely heard him though. It was like he sounded distant, like as if in a dream. And she could believe it was just that. Guys who looked that gorgeous didn't really exist, did they?

She had seen many handsome men in her life but not a one were able to compare to this one before her now. She had no words to describe. She felt her knees weaken all of a sudden, her heart begin to race, her breathing hitch. She couldn't take her eyes away.

Angel let the girl before him stare for several minutes. He remained still and hard, his eyes thankfully hidden behind dark sunglasses to not betray him as he took her in as well.

This wasn't the first time he had ever seen her, not by a long shot, but this was the first time it had been like this. This close to her, able to really see her, feel her, smell her. This was the first time she'd ever laid eyes back upon him, ever knew he probably even existed, talked to him and all of that.

Finally though, Angel forced himself to take a step forward, closing the distance between them. He heard her suck in a breath a moment before he bent some, lifting the small blonde into his arms and then carried her back into the house and sat her back down to her feet quickly.

It seemed to shake her out of her trance.

Mostly_._

Buffy glared at him, taking a few steps backward. "What the hell do you think you are doing?!"

"I told you to go back inside."

"Excuse me?" she snapped.

"Where did you think you were going to go?" he asked and then he gave a smile her way as he took his glasses off and looked around the place. It could have been worse. He had dealt with worse. "Where is it you think you could run off to where your father wouldn't look for you, wouldn't find you, and wouldn't come after you?"

She wanted to scream again. "You work for my father?"

"Was that not obvious?" Angel unbuttoned his jacket and walked a few steps around, getting a slightly better view.

Buffy's hands fisted at her sides. "Who are you?"

"You're free to call me Angelus if you want."

There was a fight going on inside of her with that breaking news. First, she stumbled backward again, a mixture of emotions inside of her. She had to give Ethan some credit for this one. She had not seen it coming. But secondly, there was still a boiling anger, and she forced it to win out.

"You're not supposed to be here until tomorrow!"

Angel smiled and shrugged.

"Son of a bitch!" she swore. She continued to glare at the unnaturally handsome Angelus. He turned around and winked at her and she hurried to wipe the flushed look from her face and replace it with anger again. "Whatever," she muttered then tried to run for the door again but in lightening speed he had caught up to her, grabbing her around the waist. "Let me go!" she growled, trying to wiggle away.

He spun her around so she'd face him only a second before he slammed her up against the door, his body pressing into her. "Don't make me tie you up," he whispered, his voice husky, his body hard against her, his face too close, his breath hot against her skin, "You probably wouldn't enjoy it, but I know I would," he told her then stepped away, watching as she fell to the floor softly, her knees unable to hold her up.

He looked at her for another few moments then turned away.

Buffy stared after him, her heart pounding, her body trembling. But not out of fear.

Suddenly, she felt herself being pushed against and hurried to scoot out of the way of whoever was trying to get through the door. She didn't trust her legs still so just headed for a wall out of the way and tried to calm down.


	2. Chapter 2

It was a little past two AM when Buffy decided to try sneaking out of her room, going as quickly and as quietly as she possibly could, just needing and wanting to get out of here already.

She was tip-toeing her way past the main room, closing in on the front door, when she heard the soft sounds of ice clinking around in a glass.

And that stopped her right in her tracks.

Buffy paused, trying to listen more closely, turning her head slightly toward the direction it was coming from.

It didn't take long before she spotted him and even a less amount of time for her body to have a chill run through it.

Sure, this Angelus guy was sitting in a chair in the other room that was further from her then the door, sure he looked rather comfortable just sitting there, sure his back was turned to her and there was a slight chance he didn't even know she was there... but nothing she could think of about this seemed to make her feel any better.

"Took you long enough," she finally heard his voice rumble out through the tense silence. She swallowed hard as he leaned forward in the chair, setting the glass down onto the table before him.

"You... you can't just keep me locked in here or something," she replied, trying to gather up as much courage left inside of her, trying to make her voice comes out as hard as it currently was going to get, trying to not be intimidated by this man.

Angelus let out something resembling a chuckle by this then watched as his hand slowly came up and he reached behind his head and dangled a pair of shiny silver handcuffs from his fingers. "You might want to re-think that," he replied, obviously amused.

Buffy on the other hand didn't exactly feel quite as amused by this, she felt as though she had just been floored and all of the air to the room has been sucked out.

Angelus' head turned around after a short beat and he glanced back at her. He smirked, raising his eyebrows, then started to stand up.

She went running back toward the stairs heading for her room before he was even halfway up.

Angel stood up slowly and stretched, laughing as he next heard the blonde's door slamming shut, followed next by scuttering of furniture being moved, pushed in front of her bedroom doorway. He shook his head and reached down for his glass, downing the rest of it then started for the kitchen.

He took his time in cleaning the small glass he'd used and then putting it away before heading for the stairway himself.

"No!" Buffy started screaming out as she finally heard his footsteps nearing. "Go away!"

Angel stood in front of the door, listening as she took turns between screaming out threats and just screaming for him to leave her be. Shaking his head again, he slipped his shoes off to not given himself away and then he quietly fell back, walking down to his own room.

He was pretty positive that she wasn't going to be trying anything else tonight. And that meant he could go get some sleep.

He'd deal with her in the morning.

OoOoO

Buffy didn't get any real sleep in at all. She remained all bundled up on her bed, eyes trained on the door. What she could still see of it anyway as she'd pushed everything she could find and move in front of it. And she just sat there, tense, waiting for him to come bursting through there to do God knows what.

But he never did.

And she could now see the sun starting to shine in through the windows. Windows she had been too afraid to even try to mess with before and surely not after that little run in with 'The Beast' down there. She just felt she was probably better just staying in here, waiting whatever was going to happen out, then trying to climb out there.

Buffy was afraid of him... but it was hard to explain. It wasn't as though she actually thought he would harm her, he was just... danger. The man she was now sharing a home with was danger.

He looked it, sounded like it, dressed like it, smelled like it... It sort of just swirled all around him with that dark, looming presence of his. But she knew, even with all that, somehow she knew, he wasn't going to do anything to her. He wasn't going to hurt her, wasn't going to let anyone else either. She knew that instantly. But there was still something else there.

Maybe it was just he worked for her father... with that she kind of had to know he must be smart enough to know what would happen to him if he tried anything.

Or maybe it was something more...

OoOoO

Angel could practically feel her tense up as he softly knocked on her door. He yawned and ran a hand down his face before knocking again as she hadn't answered.

"Hey in there," he called, "I know you aren't asleep," he told her, a smirk on his face.

"Leave me alone!"

"No. Now get up, out of bed, dressed and whatever else you need to do. There's breakfast downstairs. If you aren't down there in the next fifteen minutes enjoying it then I will come through this door and drag you down there. Got me?"

"You can't treat me this way!"

"Downstairs. Fifteen minutes," he repeated before walking away.

Buffy listened to his retreating footsteps for a moment then began fuming. And slightly trembling still as well.

With shaking hands she looked around and grabbed at her cell phone. She had been too afraid to call her dad last night. Too mad as well. But she forced herself to get over all of that for a moment.

"Daddy! That man is... is... is a freaking maniac okay?! Just what in the hell were you thinking?" she rushed out before Ethan could even get a "hello" out as he answered. "He threatened to chain me up!"

Ethan couldn't help but laugh. "Buffy, dear..."

"What the hell is so damn funny?! This is not funny!"

"I'm sorry," he said with a cough, "I take it that your first night together did not go as well as I had hoped?"

Buffy growled. "I would honestly hope not! I mean, have I mentioned to you that is, well, you know, insane?! I have spent the entire night locked in my room, dressers, nightstands, bookcases and everything else I could move in front of my door because I was terrified!"

"Buffy, please trust me when I say this, Liam Angelus would not hurt you in any way, shape or form. He may be a little... well, honestly I don't have a word for it, but... there is nothing to worry about, nothing to fear from him."

"I do not want him here!"

"Liam is staying."

"What?! Why? Dad, I do not want him here. I don't want him anywhere near here. I am a grown woman these days, in case you'd missed that or forgotten. I can take care of myself. You and him and everyone else is just trying to rule over me and ruin my life." Buffy sighed. "I was having a nice time, a great time. You promised me that..."

Over the next several minutes the two argued, complaints and nasty comments came, declarations and threats as well and then before she knew it... she had lost track of time.

She was snapped back into reality however when she heard him outside of her door again. She yelped and ended up dropping the phone, her eyes flying toward the door and her heart beginning to pound uncontrollably in her chest.

Making quick use of the key to unlock Buffy's door, Angel stepped inside, easily moving items from out of his way. "You," he pointed, coming toward her, "Were warned about this."

"Get away from me!" she yelled, a slight quiver in her voice, a slight chill down her spine as he came closer.

Angel reached down for the phone beside her bed and smiled, bringing it up to his ear. "Hey Ethan, how are you? I can't really talk right now and neither can Buffy here, she's gotta go now but I will call you back later." He didn't wait for the older man to say anything, just snapped it close and rushed to grab her.

"You are out of your mind!" she yelled as he carried her out of the room, her hands beating on him.

Angel just ignored her and carried her through the house and down to the kitchen, slowly lowering her to the ground, his hands remaining on her to keep her from doing something stupid.

She gave him one hell of a glare down.

"Now, you're going to sit and eat and we will discuss this situation like grown-ups okay?" He looked over toward a pile of handcuffs on the table. "If not..." he let her eyes follow his over without saying anything more.

Slowly he let go of her and pulled out her chair. Buffy sat, fuming. He chuckled and then went over to his own chair.

"I will not stay locked up in this house."

"If that was what your father wanted then I wouldn't be here, you wouldn't be here, you would be under his roof, under his lock and key. I just didn't want you running off." Angel shrugged and grabbed at his orange juice.

Buffy crossed her arms over her chest.

"You have to stay here and I have to keep track of you, but that doesn't mean you're not allowed to do the things you want. You just have to obey some rules," he reasoned.

"I want to be left alone!"

"Tough. I can do this for you though. I have a few of my men with me and they will keep an eye on you when you go out, I will often as well..."

"No."

"Let me finish."

Buffy glared but snapped her mouth shut.

"Thank you," he said then continued, "You will be looked in on, but no one is going to be following you around everywhere. For example, Let's say that you go to the mall. I will want to know that you went but I do not need a list of everything thing you bought and everything you did while there. I don't care. And I certainly will not be tagging along with you and holding your bags and God knows what else."

Buffy leaned back in the chair, her eyes wary.

Angel locked his hands together and sat them in front of him on the table then looked her in the eye. "Ethan is letting you stay but you have to deal with me in order to. I'll give you as much freedom as I can... but I have to do my job and I have to make sure you're safe."

Like that made her feel better.

OoOoO

"No drinking," Angel continued going through his rules after she finally asked after listening to him explain this "deal" of theirs some more, "The only exception is if I give you permission to a glass of champagne or wine. I'm pretty sure we won't have to worry about that though," he smirked and she glared again. "No smoking, no drugs either."

"I don't do any of those things," she replied. Well, if she was at a party she had had a few drinks before but it wasn't a regular thing.

"And you won't. No parties in this house, maybe a small gathering can be done but no wild parties."

"Whatever," she mumbled.

"You're not allowed to date anyone unless I give you permission. And trust me, I won't, so don't bother me with asking."

"What?!"

OoOoO

It wasn't long before Buffy went stomping upstairs.

This was ridiculous.

She wondered if going home wouldn't be such a bad idea after all.

But then again, he was actually being generous. He was giving her freedom, more than anyone else ever had or probably ever would.

She was so used to being watched like a hawk, someone following her around everywhere, following behind her, listening to her conversations, always being there... She never got to really enjoy anything living like that. Angelus though, he was offering a small slice.

She hated the idea of still being followed and watched over, but this sounded better than anything she'd ever had to deal with before.

He had promised he'd keep his men at bay and that they'd only interfere with anything is if they had to. He hadn't promised the same for himself, rather smugly, but said he wasn't going to be "her every other bodyguard."

Whatever that meant.


	3. Chapter 3

Buffy crossed her arms over her chest as she came to stand across from this crazy man her father had, for whatever reason, decide to leave in charge of her.

"I have some rules of my own," she spoke getting his attention.

Angel looked up from the paper and raised his eyebrows. "Why am I not surprised?" He asked with a smirk. "Can I finish mine first though? Then we can go over yours."

She gave him a hard stare. "If you insist."

"I do," he said, that smirk growing.

OoOoO

Angel stood up and walked over to her once they were both finished going through their lists of rules and demands. Buffy had tried to make him budge on some of his rules, apparently thought that was just something not going to happen. And Angel practically vetoed all of hers.

She was surprised he even agreed to any still.

Leaning his body dangerously close to hers, his head barely an inch away, he whispered, "We have a deal then?"

Buffy swallowed hard and somehow forced her head to nod. She could feel his eyes burning into her but hers were too busy staring at his mouth to raise up and meet them. She felt an intense longing for his mouth to be covering hers, his body to be pressed up against her, her fingers were just itching to touch him. And she desperately knew she needed to shake the hell out of this trance but seemed to have no choice.

His eyes darkened as they lingered upon her before he pulled back smiling. "Good," he told her before walking away.

She was surprised she didn't just collapse down to the floor again.

OoOoO

After making some quick plans were her new-found best friend Willow some time after, Buffy got herself changed and ready to head out.

She found herself stopping as she reached the front door though, remembering how well her trying to leave the house had gone last time. And she wasn't sure how much she really was to trust this Angelus character.

No. Scratch that. She did know, she didn't trust him at all!

"What, are you afraid it's gonna bite you?" she suddenly heard Angelus behind her. She could feel his hot breath brushing against her ear, feel his body there, but barely touching her. Which was supposed to be a good thing... yet she suddenly craved more.

She also craved air as she noticed she'd been holding in her breath.

Angelus came around her, opening the door himself and gestured her out. Buffy gathered herself back together and hurried past him, ignoring his chuckle that followed.

OoOoO

Sitting around with Willow, Cordy and Anya made her feel almost back to normal.

Together, they sat around eating their lunch, rolling their eyes at everything Cordelia said, listened to Buffy's complaining about her new situation, and just laughed and talked and had a good time.

Buffy couldn't help it though as her eyes constantly scanned the area, trying to spot whoever might be following her.

"Just try and relax," Willow said softly, an ever-present smile on her face.

"Yeah, I don't see what the big deal," Cordelia stated. And then the brunette went into how much she wished she had a bodyguard and how much she deserved one and all of this attention Buffy was getting.

As she zoned out, Buffy almost did forget about it all.

Then she saw him.

"You have got to be kidding me," she muttered.

"Oh, no, I mean it!" Cordelia continued, oblivious.

"Cordelia," Willow rolled her eyes, "I don't think she was talking to you."

"Oh."

Slowly all the girls followed their new blonde friend's line of sight and were happy they did.

"Wow," Willow breathed then added awkwardly, "I mean... uhh, look at him?"

"I don't believe it either," Anya stated, practically drooling.

"Hello, Salty Goodness," Cordelia declared.

Buffy growled. "You guys! That's him!" she threw her hands around wildly trying to get their attention.

"That's who?"

"Him! That's Angelus."

"Him?!"

"Yes!"

"Then what the heck are you complaining about!" Willow asked then laughed. "Sorry."

Buffy was about to reply when she caught his eye as he left the store across the street. She tried to glare but was having trouble doing anything but gawking herself.

He slowly smiled and then waved to his driver before he started crossing their street.

"Oh, no."

Cordelia squealed in happiness and hurried to make her and Anya presentable.

Angelus smiled at the girls as he approached. "Hello ladies," he greeted.

Buffy groaned as the girls giggled like little school girls.

"Hello," Cordy spoke first, her voice dripping with seduction.

"Hi," Willow chirped quickly with a blush forming on her face as she stared.

Before Anya could say anything though, Buffy butted in. "What do you want?"

Angelus smiled, she rolled her eyes. "Well, I saw you sitting here and I thought I would come say hello and introduce myself to your friends," he said, polite as possible.

"Great," she muttered.

"I'm Liam Angelus, I work for Buffy's father," he told the three others. "I'm just here to look after her for awhile."

"Lucky bitch," Anya muttered.

"I thought you were staying out of my life," Buffy grumbled.

"I am," he threw his hands up in surrender, "I just thought it would be rude not to come over here after seeing you."

"Are you following me?"

"No. I told you I was checking out the town today. I do have to live here for awhile you know. And it happens to be quite small Buffy, it was bound to happen that we would run into each other while out."

"That's so true," Cordy breathed and he smiled.

"Whatever, fine. Angelus, this is Cordelia Chase, Anya Jenkins and Willow Rosenberg. There, now go."

"Alright, alright," he said with a chuckle, "I'm sorry for interrupting your meal. You girls have a good day," he winked as he turned.

"Oh please, anytime," Cordelia called after him.

"Jackass," Buffy muttered behind him.

"I wish he was guarding my body." Cordelia licked her lips and she watched his retreating form.

Buffy was glad she left out certain parts of last night and this morning now.


	4. Chapter 4

Angelus was driving her insane. That's all it came down to.

Buffy wasn't sure how they had managed to make it through this first week without slitting each others throats.

He was driving her nuts though, so she didn't know how long they'd make it.

He still scared the living crap out of her. Just the other day, she had decided to do something dumb and tried to break her way into his room to snoop around. Of course, this was after she had thought he had left... and had no idea that The Beastman had actually returned moments later after a change in his plans.

She decided the worst part about his eeriness, he didn't even try to be frightening, he just... was. And him standing there, all leaned up against the wall, peering at her over his sunglasses, an amused smirk on his face... It had to be one of the most terrifying things ever.

And unfortunantely when she thought back about it, one of the sexiest.

"You do know that's locked right?" he had asked.

Buffy's hand dropped in record speed, her breathing stopped, her heart began to pound, her eyes wide. That weird feeling came back, the one that she only had when Angelus was like this. It was mostly fear, but something else too.

Buffy slowly made herself look at him and then couldn't think or talk for anything.

This just amused him more.

She hated when he surprised or shocked her, and he certainly did with his next move.

After he calmly and annoyingly taunted and teased her about her many complaints of privacy when here she was trying to break into his bedroom, he pushed himself off of the wall and started walking over to her.

She had been shaking as she felt him closing in, it didn't help any when she felt one of his arms come around her, his hand resting on her lower back, the other snaking around to open his door.

After the soft click, he had pushed the door open and then stepped back, "Go ahead," he whispered into her hear, sending a shiver down her spine, fear temporarily gone. He pushed her softly into the room then came to lean on the door frame with a smirk as he looked into her confused, wide eyes.

She had no idea what was going on.

Suddenly, Angelus' phone had rung and he answered it, pointing down the hall where he went to take the call leaving her still shocked standing a few feet into his large room.

Then it was another several moments later when he returned to tell her he had to go, he smiled and waved around the room then left.

Even though she had looked through every inch of his room, in every drawer, through his desk, in the trash, through everything... she still really didn't know anything about him. And that annoyed her. She knew then that's why he hadn't had a problem with her in here. What bothered her the most though was that she wanted to know about him.

Buffy also hated those times when she wasn't all afraid of him, times where they either were fighting or almost getting along.

If it was a fight, she was the one in a huff and he was just amused, annoying her more. He was amused and calm. And annoying.

It didn't matter what it was about, wanting to be left alone, not being able to go to a party over the weekend, boys... Well, actually, he did kind of get a little scary when she mentioned wanting the right to date. And she didn't mention it much for that.

When they were civil, it was just... weird.

She'd noticed he'd been leaving her alone more and more, well, maybe not alone exactly but he just hadn't been visible to her much, and maybe that was helped.

But sitting out on the couch, eating popcorn and watching a movie together wasn't as bad as she would have thought earlier on. It was almost... nice. Weird, but almost nice.

He even looked happy.

That was close to scary in her mind though.

Angelus was cocky and arrogant. He was in full right to be but she wasn't about to admit that. Instead, she tried to hide her feelings about him, ignored those looks he liked to throw at her, made fun of him when he said something smart... things like that.

Of course, he never minded. Of course, he grew more amused by her.

But, in the end, his coldness, how annoying he was, his ability to turn her on more than she'd ever admit to anyone, his subtle way of being overprotective, all of it... it couldn't compare to what she was facing right now.

She had come downstairs to get a glass of water when she heard the television on. She quietly walked into the room, spotting him right away.

She'd started to say something but nothing came out as she got close enough to see.

She felt her throat tighten, her heart clutch, her stomach flutter as she looked at his sleeping form. She wondered how someone so big, so mean, dangerous and scary could suddenly look so soft and sweet.

He looked peaceful, not a word she'd often think to use with this man.

Buffy took another few steps toward him, unable to resist the urge to touch him, but as her fingers lightly brushed his cheek, her eyes wandered from over his face and slowly down his body and her soft smile disappeared.

He was bleeding.

"Oh God, oh God," Buffy muttered, her panic rising. She slowly forced herself to move a few feet over, peering down, completely terrified. 'Please be okay, please.'

Buffy slowly leaned in, reaching her hand down to where his was resting over the wound. She took a deep breath, her fingers curling around his, trying to ignore the wetness, the cold and claminess that she found as she lifted his hand away.

The light from the television flickered and she bit her lip to keep from screaming as it lit up the pool of blood pouring out of him, spreading across his shirt, coloring the couch.

'God, please no, this can't be happening.'

She blinked back the tears forming in her eyes, swallowed the lump in her throat and hurried to grab at a pillow and throw blanket from one of the chairs beside him, rushing to cover him, trying to stop the bleeding.

"Angelus?" she croaked out, not having seen any movement from him besides his chest rising and falling slowly. "Angelus, please wake up," she pleaded, her voice growing a little louder.

A few sobs came out when nothing happened.

Buffy grabbed at his hand again, placing it on the blanket, then she rushed over to the small table beside his head and turned on the lamp. Buffy shielded his eyes for a few moments before snatching her hand away.

"Oh God," she breathed out.

Earlier, in the dark, she hadn't noticed anything else.

OoOoO

After dropping the phone twice with her shaking hands, Buffy finally got the phone call made and she even finally woke Angelus up in the process as well as she was trying to explain to the operator what was going on.

Angelus groaned and then coughed. She looked him over, thankful he was awake, that he was alive, as she tried to describe his wounds to the woman over the phone.

She couldn't really get to the back of his head so couldn't tell her much, only describe the blood and what she could feel. She described the few bruises and cuts on his handsome face. Nothing there seemed to major, the only worry there being the bruise forming on his temple that he'd buried into the couch cushion.

Then there was the stab wound, the only other thing she knew of.

She hadn't really looked at it, just tried to fix it, but knew she was going to have to.

Buffy whispered out that the look in his eyes was scaring her. She didn't know if that statement was said more to herself, the woman or him. Her eyes filled with tears again and she felt his fingers squeeze her hand weakly. The woman became forgotten with that.

"Buffy," she heard him whisper. Whatever he had to say after that became cut off by a new string of uncomfortable coughing.

"Shh," she whispered back, crawling on her knees closer to him. "It's okay. It's gonna be okay. The ambulance is on the way, they'll take care of you."

He shook his head, barely, and he was wincing the whole time.

"This is not the damn time to be arguing with me, Angelus. You are not going to bleed to death on the damn couch okay?!" she halfway yelled then she found herself breaking out into Earth shaking sobs again. "You're going to be okay," she hiccupped.

He closed his eyes, wondering how in the world he let himself get into this mess. He wanted to make sure she was okay but the darkness was taking him under again.

OoOoO

Buffy breathed a small sigh of relief as she saw the lights swirling in the driveway. She'd hung up on the operator long ago, wishing she hadn't as his breathing had changed and he had fallen back unconscious.

She brushed her fingers against his cheek, much like she had earlier when she only suspected he fell asleep watching some late night television or whatever, then ran to the door.

"Please hurry," she begged the paramedics.

OoOoO

Buffy hated hospitals. She always had, probably always would, but as his eyes slowly opened back up as they rushed him through the hallways it was worth being here.

"Hi," she cried softly.

That distant look she found in his eyes was scaring her all over again. She wanted that amused and mocking light that annoyed her so much. She wanted that dark, lustful cloud to settle in and send chills down her spine. Hell, she'd even take his cold anger over this.

'He's going to be fine,' she told herself, praying it was true. 'He has to be.'

Buffy felt dizzy as the nurse asked her to step back, telling her they'd take it from here. She felt the hot tears rolling down her face, her hand squeezing the metal railing desperately. She slowly nodded, her blurred eyes drinking him in, her heart painfully falling to pieces inside her chest.

She nodded numbly, releasing the cold metal, forcing her body to move out of the way. Her eyes drifted back to his face, meeting his eyes that had remained on her.

Buffy hiccupped another cry then rushed back to him, leaning down and crushing her lips to his, only breaking it when they both became desperate for air.

She kissed him once more quickly then retreated away once more, her eyes following as they led him away.

When he was out of sight, she slumped down to the floor.

OoOoO

Tears welled up once more in Buffy's green eyes as she stared at the first form in front of her. She looked over to the nurses' station and they only fell harder.

They'd helped her up off of the floor, trying to console her, trying to just calm her down then led her into this waiting room, asking her to fill out the massive amount of hospital forms in her lap while she waited for any news on her "friend's" condition. They'd bought her candy and grabbed her coffee when she only cried harder, not understanding why that had upset her more.

And now it didn't help that she couldn't answer anything the paper before her asked. She gave his first and last name, his eye and hair color, her guesses as to his height and weight and that was about all of the personal information she could hand over.

She'd never felt so useless in her entire life.

Buffy dragged her legs up into the seat, pressing her knees into her chest, her head crying into her lap.

"Have you called your father yet?"

Buffy stilled at the voice. She swallowed hard then slowly lifted her head.

"Mind if I sit?" the stranger asked.

She slowly shook her head no as she looked at him questioningly. Buffy swallowed again. "Do I know you?"

He laughed. "No, not really. I know you though."

She felt a chill go down her spine. "You... you do?"

He laughed again. "No reason to get jumpy pet," he held up his hands in mock surrender. "I come in peace." His blue eyes lowered to her lap and he raised an eyebrow. "Need help with those?"

"Who are you?" she asked.

He sighed. "William Pratt, but you can call me Spike. Everybody does. I work for your father with Angel." The Brit smiled at her. "I'm your number one tailer I'll have you know."

Buffy raised her eyebrows at him.

"It's true," he nodded, "And it makes me wish you had a more exciting life."

Buffy managed a small smile then looked down at her massive pile of blank pages. "You... you could help with these?"

He nodded. "Yeah, Angel's like my brother, not that I'd ever tell him that, so I'm sure I can get at least half of them right," he smirked. "You should call Ethan though. I already have but I'm sure he wants to speak with you."

Buffy nodded. She had no idea what she was going to say though.


	5. Chapter 5

"Liam, I know that you have a bit of flare for the dramatics, but this..." Ethan waved his hand through the air.

Angel would have laughed, he knew that would just cause him more pain though. Instead, he groaned as he moved slightly in the bed then laid his head back against the pillows for a moment, eyes tightly closed.

"Are you trying to say you think I overdid it?" he finally asked. He'd tried to make it as light as he could but he was still gritting the words out.

Ethan chuckled. "Maybe jumped the gun a little too soon," he offered with a smile still on his face.

Angel tried to smile as well but it was much more of a grimance then he shrugged.

Ethan kept a smile on his face as he sat back in the chair he'd taken, letting a silence fall between the two of them.

Angel kept his eyes closed, trying to fight off the waves of pain and nausea, while Ethan looked around the hospital room for the countless time while letting his thoughts all run wild.

This wasn't the first time he'd been in this sort of situation with Angelus, however hospitals were usually avoided at all costs and treatment for any injuries were handled elsewhere. And those weren't exactly the best memories to have.

And every time, Ethan would hope that it'd be the last time.

More so after he realized a thing or two about this young man, like Liam's not-so-hidden feelings for his daughter.

To say he had been shocked to learn of them would be a lie, the only real shocker about it was how long it actually took for him to realize. He still couldn't believe it took shim o long. After all, he had witnessed it from the very beginning, he'd been there the first time Angelus had seen her. And there had been plenty of signs along the way. Yet, it had taken him a few years to catch on.

Ethan could still remember the moment it came together for him though. It was almost straight out of a cartoon, like a giant lightbulb suddenly came on over his head and a giant smile spread across his face. Oh, when it hit him, it hit him.

He knew that most anyone else would probably not have the same reaction as he did given everything he knew... and didn't know... about the younger man, but he honestly didn't care.

Liam Angelus had a bad side, Ethan knew that, he knew he was pretty responsible for it, but he knew there was more to Angel than that. Hell, he'd known that long before the whole Buffy thing came into play. He was a good kid, always had been, he just had a way with doing bad things... and that had come in handy more times than Ethan could count, but there was so much more out there. And slowly, he'd done his best to steer his role in a different direction than it had been when he'd first shown up. And Ethan liked to think that he was more or less on a better, maybe even the right, path these days.

Obviously there were still a few kinks left though.

Ethan sighed and cracked his neck a few times. "She's worried about you."

Angel didn't reply. He kept his eyes closed and clenched his jaw together as hard as he could.

Ethan knew. Liam knew that he knew. And Ethan knew that Liam knew that he knew. But it was still an unspoken thing between them.

There was never anything more than subtle teasing and small hints dropped around from time to time. Asking him to come out here and watch her was one hell of a leap.

He'd been given a big enough reason to push though...

"Well?"

Lost in his thoughts, Ethan hadn't heard Angel speaking to him at first. Shaking his head, he looked at the man expecting some kind of answer from him. "I'm sorry?"

Angel closed his eyes again. "Nothing," he muttered softly.

Ethan cursed at himself silently but thought better than to try and drag anything out of Angel. He rubbed his hands down his face then stood up, walking quietly around the room. He paused at the door, trying to look into the waiting room to where Spike and Buffy were supposed to be.

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" he finally spoke again.

Of course, he already knew and so did Liam, but Angel shifted uncomfortably in the bed before answering him anyway.

OoOoO

Buffy did not like feeling like this. At all.

Pulling her knees back up to her chest, she craned her neck toward Angel's hallway and began bouncing the balls of her feet in the small chair.

"Pet, if you don't quit doing that, you are going to start to make me nervous."

Buffy stopped and turned her head around. "I'm not..." she shook her head as Spike began to smile, "Do you think he's okay?" she said instead then looked back down the hall again.

Spike crossed his arms over his chest. "Sure. He might be lucky though considering your dad happens to like him."

Buffy looked back at the duster-loving Brit, her face confused.

Spike smiled widely. "You know, with the whole making out thing you two did in the hall there," he said and laughed as he saw Buffy's face start to turn red. "Now, if he didn't... well..." Spike looked over his shoulder to the young man who'd had the shit scared out of him earlier by Ethan after an attempted flirtation with his daughter.

She started to respond but ended up jumping before she even began as she heard a loud f-bomb being dropped a few feet away.

"Shut up, Doyle," Spike called over one of the strange men she'd seen come in with her dad.

He looked like he should be in a hospital bed of his own. He showed signs of a fight but nothing too bad. It was more he was obviously distraught... and very, very drunk out of his mind.

Buffy's eyes flicked over the stranger again and she scooted back into her chair a bit as he stood up, mumbling under his breath. He started packing around and running his hands nervously through his hair.

"Sit down."

Doyle looked at Spike for a moment then returned to pacing. "This is all my fault," he started to mutter a few times.

Spike sighed and stood up, walking over and pushing Doyle down into one of the seats again. "Yeah, it is," he told him then walked back over and plopped down next to Buffy once again.

She looked at him confused again. "He did that to Angelus?"

Spike chuckled softly, his eyes flickered over at Doyle and it grew louder. "No," he told her, shaking his head then he sighed and sat up straight. Spike ran his hands down the top of his legs to his kneecaps a few times before continuing. "That," he pointed toward the drunk, "would be Angel's cousin, Doyle. Doyle there is a drunk with more than a bit of a gambling problem. He tends to get over his head more often than not and Angel had to come try and save the day. It doesn't always go as planned."

Buffy's teeth tugged at her bottom lip. "What happened?" she asked softly.

Spike shrugged then asked Doyle.

When he finished nervously explaining what had happened, Buffy stood up and walked over to him, smacking him as hard as she could across the face before he could even blink.

Next, she marched down the hall and came storming into Angel's room. She walked over to his bed and slapped him as well.

Doyle was still out in the waiting room holding his face. Buffy was still high on her anger. Ethan and Angel were both too shocked to do anything. And Spike, who had followed behind the blonde, fell to the ground shaking with laughter.


	6. Chapter 6

Buffy suddenly felt herself returning to reality, coming down for her anger high, as she heard Spike gasp out how "bloody fantastic" he thought all of this was.

Her eyes met Angelus' and she was afraid she might faint. His head had snapped back a little when she'd whacked him and it remained in that very position. His jaw was pretty much the same story, his mouth was slightly open but it was now set in more anger rather than shock it seemed. But those eyes... it was like she was drowning in a dark, heated fire.

There had always been a dark lust floating in him but this... Buffy swallowed hard. She had fear hitting her in waves, but, as usual with this man, another feeling came rushing towards her as well, mixing right in, wanting to swallow her whole.

And it did not help one bit that he looked like he was feeling the same way, only he was more with the anger mixed in with that all too powerful lust. And all of it directed toward her.

'Oh, boy.'

She was more than sure he was royally pissed off, Hell, she could feel it coming off of him, but he looked more like he just wanted to grab her and fuck her senseless.

And at this moment, she was more than willing to let him.

Suddenly, she saw his arm move and his hand came up to grip her wrist tightly, she had to bite her tongue to keep from moaning. This was all a little much for her.

He started tugging her closer to him and when she reached him, she was pulled down to meet his face. And she started to feel faint again, he was far too close to be looking at her in such a way.

She could see pain in his blackened eyes, no doubt from all of the sudden movements, but mostly she saw the fight for him to gain control going on in there. Her face began to burn red as she thought of what could happen if that side lost. And how bad she currently wanted that very thing to happen.

'This is so not good,' she thought then tried to shake herself out of this trance.

Angelus' eyes closed and his grip became a bit tighter. She swallowed hard once again and stared at the angry red mark she'd left among the chaos on his beautiful face. Signs of his earlier battle were much more apparent now but she could see where she'd taken to him.

"You want to tell me what the hell that was for?" he asked through a painfully clenched jaw, his eyes still partly closed.

Ethan coughed before she could answer and the two remembered they were not alone. Buffy felt a little relief in that... among other things. She looked at her father with wide eyes hoping he'd step in and help her out of this. Instead, however, Ethan stood and excused himself along with Spike, ignoring her as she tried to subtly get some help from either one of them.

"Buffy?" his voice was a bit more clear when he spoke this time, seconds after the door clicked shut after the two other men had taken their leave.

She slowly looked back at him. "Uh... huh?"

"What was that for?" he asked her again.

Buffy quickly looked down and began moving against his grip, but it wasn't that she was trying to escape, it was just moving out of nervousness. "I... I was uh... worried..." she mumbled out. He raised an eyebrow at her and she sighed, taking a tiny step back. "You knew what would happen." It wasn't a question but he nodded anyway. "And he knew as well, but he called you anyway. And you went."

Angel was quite for a long time.

"Sometimes Doyle gets a little over his head," he finally started softly, releasing her from his grasp, "And yes, sometimes I get involved. He knew I was close enough in the area so he saw it as an opportunity to get him out of his latest bind. Usually I can take care of whatever he owes..." Angel shook his head for a moment, "Other times..." he sighed, "Well, other times money isn't what they decide they want, they feel insulted by the whole situation, or they just want to make a point." Angel shrugged.

"So you just let these people beat you up?"

He shrugged again. "Wouldn't have been able to anyway," he had a hint of a smirk to go along with that statement. "Doyle's not allowed back and should probably leave the area... least for a little while... but the debt is taken care of. They got their fill, Doyle will leave with your father I suppose, and I'll heal. Life goes on."

There was nothing she could think of to say to that. He sounded far too calm and collected about all of this, like it was no big deal. And to him, it probably wasn't.

But it was a different story with her.

"I'm not sorry I hit you," she finally muttered.

He gave her a wide smile.

OoOoO

Ethan couldn't help but chuckle as Buffy came walking over to him. She looked like a whole jumble of mixed emotions.

Buffy carelessly fell into the seat next to him and laid her head down on his shoulder, he turned his head slightly kissing her forehead.

"Everything alright?"

She closed her eyes. "I don't know."

"He'll be fine. He always is."

Buffy looked up at him from under her eyelashes. "This happen often?"

He thought for a moment. "It's happen more often than I would like."

Buffy nodded against him then looked back down. For her, once more often than she would have liked.

OoOoO

Visiting hours at the hospital were long over when Buffy had returned to his room. He was peacefully sleepy and she couldn't stop herself from going over to him and checking him over.

After the last time... she just couldn't stop herself. It left quite the impression and she couldn't help that uneasy feeling that swept over her as she remembered.

After reassuring herself that he was fine, she quietly moved across the room and sat down in one of the chairs. She pulled her legs up to her chest and rested her head against them.

A few short moments later, she was sliding the chair across the floor, placing it as close to his bed as she could get. She sat back down, this time resting her head on the bed next to him. She just wanted to be closer to him, something she'd felt earlier and had made her come sneaking back in here.

Buffy sighed. This man was driving her emotions wild. She didn't know what was coming over her. She'd felt the need to see him and that wasn't even good enough so she had to be near him. Earlier she had been so overcome with learning about the whole Doyle thing and had no more control over that and couldn't understand it. She was just so... that his cousin had put him in that kind of position. And Angelus! Angelus just went and let it happen. She didn't know what to think about that but none of it came out on the side of good.

She was worried about it, worried about him. There was so much that could have went wrong and could in the future and that scared her. She just wanted to shake him and explain how stupid he was and ask how he could do such a thing to her...

Buffy shook her head wondering where those types of thoughts came from. She sighed again. Her eyes closed and she tried to force herself into sleep, something she hadn't done since before finding him downstairs bleeding all over the place. She couldn't seem to fall under without those dreaded memories filling her head. That far away look she'd seen in his eyes still terrified her when she thought back.

Buffy replaced that image with the dark, lusty one from her last visit and with a smile she let herself begin to fall under.

OoOoO

"Buffy?" she heard a muffled voice trying to call to her. "Buffy?" she heard again, a little clearer. She also felt a pair of hands reach out to her and began gently rubbing against her.

Buffy heard herself moan and then that voice chuckling at her.

That helped wake her up and she blinked a few times trying to remember what was going on. One second she was in the middle of the best dream of her life, the next she was... "Angelus?" she called, seeing his face as her head turned over, laying down on the opposite side.

"Mmmhmm," he answered, his voice almost as tired sounding as he looked. He yawned and then rubbed his eyes for a moment. "You were moaning my name in your sleep, I thought something might be wrong."

Her eyes widened at that and she felt herself turning red in a hurry.

She did have to give him credit, he said that with a completely straight face, though she heard that hint of amusement in his voice.

"Oh," she squeaked out, wondering what else she might have said in her sleep. "Uhh... sorry?"

Angelus chuckled, only causing her to blush harder. Next he moaned himself, but it was not a happy one, as he moved over in the bed.

"What are you doing?" she asked sitting up.

His eyes closed for a moment then he settled down. He tugged at the blanket then reached for her hand. "Come here," he said, his voice tired again, his hand gently tugging at her.

She looked at him completely confused but went along with it, almost overcome with shock as he pulled her to him in the bed. "Uhh... An.. Angelus?" she stuttered.

"Shh," he whispered and covered them both up with the blankets. Next he pulled her all the way to him, her back against his chest. His arms wrapped around her, his head buried its way into her neck, and his erection pushed against her ass.

Once again Buffy found herself drawing blood as she bit her tongue to hold back a monsterous moan. She also had to steel herself as much as she could to keep from rubbing against his not-so-little friend back there.

It was not the easiest of tasks.

"Relax," he whispered against her neck, almost making her chuckle as she thought that was the last thing she was about to do, "Get some sleep. Everything will be more or less back to normal in the morning."


	7. Chapter 7

"I must say, I am surprised with you Buffy," Ethan said as he leaned in the doorway taking in the sight of Buffy and Angel together in the same room, something he had been trying to get to happen for such a long time, and now with this little issue with Doyle he had now seen quite a few times and it made him more confident that he was doing the right thing with them.

"Why's that?" Buffy asked, clearly confused.

He smiled. "Well, I have been here for almost three whole days now and not once have you brought up making Liam here leave."

Angel set his jaw while Buffy blushed, her eyes widening. It hadn't even crossed her mind to send him _away_.

"Uhh... well..." Buffy stuttered, "You know... I had my mind on other things! The man was beaten and even stabbed here! Gosh!" she blurted, "But okay, now that you mention it, what can you do about getting Liam here out of my life?" she asked, her voice getting stronger with each word but inside she was become anything but.

Angel glared her way. "First off, don't do that," he growled her way, before her father could say anything, "Secondly, that is something you do not need to worry about, Princess," he said turning his attention to Ethan as he finished. He couldn't help but smirk as he watched his face fall.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Ethan asked, crossing his arms over his chest. This was not expected. Or wanted.

Angel shrugged and leaned back into the bed that he would be happily leaving behind for good today. "I was just thinking... Maybe I should go back home to recuperate. Besides, there's nothing here that Lindsey or Hamilton or whoever else couldn't handle. Hell, you could even put William The Bloody out there in charge." Again, Angel smirked. "Like I said, babysitting isn't exactly part of my job description, Rayne."

'And just what is?' Buffy wondered then shook her head. 'He's really going to leave?' She really did not like the sinking feeling in her stomach at the thought of that. She also did not like that she had it to begin with. This was supposed to be a good thing, what she wanted.

"Great," she muttered and stood up, trying to conceal the mixture of emotions bubbling inside, "Anyway, I'm going to go see if that Spike guy or whatever is still around and see if he can't give me a ride back to the house. I have been here for days and would really like to go take a shower and change." She gave the two men staring at each other oddly one last look then headed for the door without another word.

Ethan let her pass and he watched her until she was about halfway down the hall, then he walked into the room closing the door behind him and took a seat. "You're really going to leave?"

Angel sighed, resting his head back.

OoOoO

Buffy had returned home, taken a shower in which she stayed in long after the water had turned cold, slipped into some different pajamas then crashed on her bed as she was tired but more so she was not ready to deal with the chaos going on in her little world at the moment.

She had actually managed to get a few good hours in before she heard someone knocking on her door. She groaned at the noise and blinked her eyes open a few good times before she sat up. As she did, everything slowly came back to her wishing whoever was on the other side of that door some horrible accident.

Standing, she checked the clock once then walked over to the door, yawning a few times before she reached it.

"Hey Pet," Spike said cheerfully as she opened the door, "You have some visitors."

Buffy looked at him oddly. "Huh? Who?"

"Some of your friends, they stopped by to say hello. They're downstairs waiting."

Buffy leaned against the door frame and yawned again. "Did you call Angelus for permission to let them in?" she asked dryly.

Spike chuckled, "Nope. Actually you're dad was the one who let them in."

Buffy's eyes nearly popped out of her head. "He did what?! They're already back?! Shit!" she hissed and flew out of there and into the bathroom to clean herself up quickly then ran downstairs with a quick "Thanks" to Spike.

As Buffy entered the room, she slowed down, an odd feeling, or several to be honest, ran through her at the scene before her.

First of all there was Angelus. He was all nice and sprawled out on the new replacement couch, barefoot... which sent all kinds of dirty thoughts to her mind as she knew that old saying was true, at least in terms of that man. He was dressed in an outfit she'd never seen him in, jeans and a tee shirt, which he wore like they were made for him... and for a second, she thought they might have been. Long gone were those expensive business suits that he wore just as nicely, as well as hospital stay's outfit which was absolutely nothing as she learned the hard way how much he'd rather be nude than in one of those hospital gowns. Not that she minded, of course.

And, if that wasn't enough, the man looked relaxed and almost like he was having fun. He still looked like sex on a stick, she was sure no matter what that would be the case with him, but right now he was... in a lighter tone than she'd seen him. And it was sending all kinds of crazy feelings through her.

Oh, and then he laughed. He fucking laughed. Not a dark, lusty laugh, not his mocking, amused by her laugh, oh, no, a real and heartfelt laugh. A fun laugh. A true laugh. And his whole face lit up and he seemed just so... opposite everything she knew about him in that moment.

Then, there was her good friend Cordelia.

Buffy couldn't really make out what she was saying but by the looks of it, she got the point. Cordelia was most certainly flirting with her... seemed to be soon to be ex-bodyguard... and Buffy most certainly did not like it.

She glared at her friend, though Cordy's focus was elsewhere, as her hands playfully rubbed against Angelus... his arms, his chest, his head... 'God, why is she touching him so much?!', as she laughed and gave little winks and flirty looks when she spoke... and 'Ugh!' Buffy's head screamed.

And then, to top it off, she did not see Anya anywhere in sight but she did noticed Willow sitting by her father who seemed to be very interested in their convcersation. She had no doubt he was. And that just added fuel to the fire.

As if sensing her head was about to explode, her father's head turned and he looked at her for a moment then smiled. A smile she knew well. A smile that said he knew she was upset but to please remain calm as he had what he thought was a good explanation for this.

She felt a growl of frustration bubbling but Ethan stood up and waved a hand at her. "Buffy dear, why don't you have a seat?" he said with a smile.

"Hi, Buffy," Willow said cheerfully oblivious to everything going on inside the blonde, "We came to check on you and well Mister Angelus too of course," and Willow blushed as she said his name.

"I bet you did," Buffy muttered under her breath then plopped down angrily in the closest available seat. "Thank you for coming by," Buffy finally said.

Willow smiled and excused herself from Ethan then came to join Buffy, smiling a lot more and making small talk, apologizing for the abrupt visit and explaining it was all Cordelia's idea. She was about to come alone but Willow explained she invited herself and Buffy had to thank her for that.

Buffy had heard all about this lovely side to her new friend Cordelia Chase, had even seen it once or twice, but now she was using it on Angelus and... 'Oh, God,' Buffy thought, realizing why this was bothering her so much. Or, to be more accurate, admitting to herself why it bothered her. She'd been coming to grips with that whole realization about her feelings toward Angelus since she first stepped out of the house and came crashing into that well sculpted chest of his.

"Buffy, are you okay?" Willow whispered, watching emotions fly across her friends face.

"No," Buffy whispered back, "I'm jealous," she admitted.

OoOoO

Buffy rolled her eyes as Cordelia pouted after hearing the news that Angelus wanted to leave. She also rolled her eyes at the annoyed tone to her father's voice as he said it.

She really didn't know what the deal was between those two.

But, Buffy also felt a bit of a stabbing like pain as it was brought up just the same. She was doing pretty good there on not thinking about it.

"Well hmph," Cordelia pouted, her voice sounding as childlike as she currently looked, then a second later she switched, she gave a sexy, sly and seductive smile and inched closer to Angelus, "Well in that case we should enjoy what little time we have left together."

"Oh, please," Buffy heard Willow mutter and couldn't help but smile a bit.

It quickly faded however as Cordelia continued and asked dear ol' Angelus out with promises of a real good time, one he wouldn't soon forget.

Buffy's eyes flew to Angelus who she locked eyes with embarrassingly as he was already looking at her. His eyes were unreadiable, too much going on inside. He stayed with her for what seemed like an eternity then he gave a polite smile Cordelia's way. "Sorry Cordelia, but I'm already spoken for."


	8. Chapter 8

"Why did nobody tell me that he had a girlfriend already?" Cordelia demanded with a glare as they were now all safely away from the others up in Buffy's room.

Buffy returned with one of her own. "Maybe because I didn't know."

Cordelia huffed. "Well, you didn't think to ask?" she asked Buffy, her arms flinging around as she spoke.

Buffy let out a low growl. "Well no Cordelia, I did not. You see..."

Willow rolled her eyes at her two friends, apparently she was the only one who knew what was really going on. "I don't think that's exactly what he meant," she butted in before Cordelia launched into another attack after Buffy finished her latest answer.

Both glares turned toward her. "What are you talking about?"

"Seriously?" Willow asked.

The two girls folded their arms and waited for an answer.

Willow sighed. "Are you honestly that oblivious to how he looks at you?"

Cordelia flipped her hair back. "Of course I'm not! I can see it all in..."

Willow let out a low growl of frustration of her own. "Not you Cordelia!"

"What?" the other two girls gasped.

"He was obviously talking about Buffy."

"What?!" they both asked again.

Cordelia took a moment then went on a new attack, Buffy just sat down on the edge of her bed looking like the wind had just been knocked out of her. And Willow, she just smirked.

OoOoO

"Would you please knock that shit-eating grin off of your face?" Angel grumbled as he walked, wincing the whole way, over into the kitchen a few minutes followed closely behind by his boss. He headed over to the sink and filled up a cup of water to take some of his pills down as Ethan wouldn't shut up about them.

Ethan leaned up against the fridge and crossed his arms over his chest. "Liam, why did you agree to come out here?"

Angel turned around and gave him an odd look for several minutes. "Because you asked me to."

Ethan smirked. "I've asked you many other times to watch after her."

"No, you've hinted that I should but you've never asked before, Rayne."

"And if I would have asked, what would you have said?"

Angel sighed. "I don't know."

"I think you do. So why did you agree? Why now?"

Angel really did not like where this conversation was heading. Trying to get it dropped, he just shrugged and refilled his glass.

He wasn't budging though. "Is it because she's older now? Because I wasn't going to be around? Because she left?"

Angel gripped the counter so hard that it hurt his hand. "Let it go, Rayne."

OoOoO

Buffy remained numb as she showed her guests out. She hardly even registered what had happened during the rest of the time they'd spent together. But she didn't have time to think about that now.

Closing the door, Buffy spun around only to find Angelus' eyes on her and she froze.

Buffy's eyes remained locked with his for what seemed like an eternity and then he smiled softly and playfully before looking away to answer something Doyle had asked him and she let out a huge breath.

'Why did Willow have to go put all these ideas in my head?' she growled silently to herself as she couldn't help but take closer notice to how he _was_ looking at her.

"Buffy?"

She almost jumped out of her skin at the sound of her father's voice. 'Jesus, get a grip.' "Yeah Dad?"

Ethan put his arm around her shoulder and began walking with her. "I just thought that maybe we could talk for a bit, catch up. We haven't had much of a chance to the past few days with everything being so hectic."

"Uh, sure," she mumbled, more focused on Angelus once more as his head spun around and he and her father exchanged looks. She was glad he never looked at her likethat at least.

OoOoO

"What's up with you and Angelus?" Buffy asked as she sat back down on her bed, watching her father look around the room she was currently calling her own.

"That's a long story," he said with a chuckle. As much as he wanted to tell her, he thought it might be best coming from him. Unless, of course, he took much longer. "You like it here?" he asked her, randomly touching things over on her desk.

"I didn't need you to go buy a house for me, especially not one as big as this, it's practically a mansion. I don't need this much room."

"I wanted to make sure you were well taken care of. I did mean here in Sunnydale though."

"Oh," she said then smiled a bit, "Yeah, I do. It's nice."

"You like being away from home."

Buffy felt a pang of guilt at the slight hurt tone in his voice. "Dad, it's not that. I just... Want a chance to live a little, not be overcrowded and overprotected for once."

Ethan sighed. He knew he'd taken some extreme precautions with her and not everything was the best thing for her or even with the best intentions but he was afraid to lose her or see her harmed in any way. He knew that it had pushed her away and kept her from being the kind of person she should be and be allowed to be, but he was hoping now to make it right.

Buffy was growing uncomfortable with his silence. She watched him continue playing with random things around her room, her face showing he was deep in thought.

"I didn't mean to hurt you."

Ethan turned slightly and smiled. "I could say the same thing," he told her quietly.

"Daddy, no..."

He held up his hand. "I'm working on it."

Buffy looked at him sadly, unsure of how she could put the words together to explain to him why she ran off.

"Buffy, I understand if you would like to stay here and I am fine with it. I just... You've never been on your own before and I've never had to deal with you being on your own before. It worries me."

"I know."

He sighed. "Sending Liam here helped, me anyway. It made me feel better about this. I am sorry if it upset you though."

Buffy let out a sigh of her own. "I was... really, very upset with you about it. But..." she sighed again, "after a few days... it was better. I guess part of me felt a little better knowing someone was around, even as annoying as it was."

Ethan smiled.

"And even if he is a raging lunatic."

Ethan had to laugh at that. "Oh, Liam's not so bad is he?"

"I did tell you that he's threatened to handcuff me to the bed if I 'disobey' him right?"

Ethan laughed again and Buffy shot him a glare. "Sorry," he told her with a cough and threw his hands up in surrender.

"Whatever," she told him with a quick roll of the eyes. "But no, I guess he's not completely horrible," she practically whispered.

A bit of silence fell between them and Buffy tried to work up to asking him something though she felt a bit of burning in her stomach and complete embarrassment after her talk with Willow earlier.

"Why did you ask him specifically to come here?" she finally asked, her eyes lowered to her twitching hands. "I mean, I've never met or even seen him before. And..." she blushed, feeling her heart picking up speed, "I mean, he has a girlfriend or wife or whatever right so why would you ask him to leave them for however long you planned for him to stay?"

He had to turn away to keep her from spotting the large grin that took over his face. "Well, I asked him to come here because I trust him more than almost anyone else," he started when he got a tiny bit of control back. "And I knew he'd protected you and keep you safe better than anyone else I could have sent up here. I knew he'd give you more freedom, which is what you wanted after all. Plus, I may have a few hidden plans in mind," he told her with a sly grin but continued before she could ask him about that. "I also had in mind that you hadn't met him before, which if it were up to me you would have, but Liam... well... had other plans in mind. He was doing his best to avoid you at all costs to be honest," he told her with a shrug, happy he fouled up those ideas. "And finally, Liam is not married nor is he seeing anyone so that worked out nicely."

Buffy fought against the surge of happiness that those words sent through her. "He said..."

Ethan smiled. "I know what he said. And it's true. He's just... He isn't with anyone but he wishes he were." Ethan wished he could elaborate on that but again, it wasn't yet the time or place, if it were to fall onto him. He smiled again thinking how he wished he wished she'd just figure it out or something.

'Oh, no.' "Wait a second, what do you mean he was trying to avoid me? What the heck did I do?" 'And why did you have to go and say that?' she thought sadly, her previous hopes, ones that she didn't want to have but did anyway, starting to fall away.

OoOoO

Angel was tired. And sore. And just not in a good way.

He'd had a good night's rest the night before and taken some unplanned naps on the couch throughout the day but he'd taken a number of medication, was emotionally not all together, and was just tired and craving his bed. Everyone kept trying to convince him to just remain on the couch or take a downstairs bedroom or even just one closer but he refused.

And he pretty much regretted it long before he actually made it to up his room.

This wasn't exactly the worst situation he'd been in, worst pain, but it was still uncomfortable and all that climbing and walking sure didn't help.

Walking into his adjoining bathroom, Angel looked longingly at the shower. He craved one of those as well but knew he wouldn't be able to stay awake that long. Or probably stand long enough either at that.

Sighing, he took care of his other business in order to get ready for bed.

When he re-entered his bedroom he was still fully dressed. He really wasn't fond of the idea of having to undress as he could already picture how that was going to go. He fussed with his bed then his alarm clock, setting it much later than he normally would have, but he was technically not on full duty right now, he was still pretty beaten up, and he knew somehow, one way or another, he'd probably be woken up by something else before the time he set anyhow. It was just wishful thinking.

When he finished, Angel sighed again and started to work on the button and fly of his jeans, the easier part of his outfit to get off. But before he got a chance to finish there was a knock on the door.

"Damn it," he muttered, pulling the zipper back up the rest of the way as he made his way over to the door. "Yeah, wh..." he said as it opened. When he saw that it was Buffy on the other side the rest of what he was going to say with it vanished. "Uh, hi?" he choked out instead.

He hadn't seen her in hours, not since she'd headed upstairs herself with Ethan. Which made him none too happy when she was all hiding out like that and Ethan wasn't answering him on what he might have said to her. He knew that one of these days Rayne was going to fuck him over about their little unspoken issue.

He was enjoying this all too much, had from the beginning.

Buffy smiled nervously at him. "Hi, uh, hi... sorry to bother you and all... but um... yeah, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Angel felt his head creasing up as he stared down at her. This was not his fighting spirit, acting like she hated his guts girl. 'Shit.' He let his head bang against his door a tiny bit then stepped out of her way. "Sure, come on in," he told her reluctantly.

First of all, this was his bedroom and secondly, he had no idea what the hell was going on.

He watched her for a few silent moments, none of which helped, then finally couldn't take it anymore. "So, what is it that I can help you wi..."

"I don't want you to leave," she blurted suddenly before he could even finish.

He watched her face start to turn a nice shade of pink, watched her try and act like nothing was out of the ordinary, then he smirked and cocked an eyebrow at her. "Is that so?"

Buffy sighed, wondering how in the world she could explain this. "Look, I don't know how much you know about me but in a nutshell, I'm a very, insanely, very overprotective girl okay? I've been home-schooled almost my entire life, I've never had any friends, not real ones anyway, not like I do now. You know, not people just trying to use me or whatever. I've never been free to do anything. I've never had a job, never really have had to lift a finger for myself, never learned how to drive, never played sports. I've never gone to camp, never been to a party, never really even been away from home before. I've never had a boyfriend or even been on a single date in my life. The first real kiss I ever had was with you at the hospital," she blurted and felt her face starting to burn again so hurried to get on and past that. "I'm a smart girl. I'm very resourceful. And I've never had a chance to put that to use. I've never had a chance to do anything. Ever. But now I do and if you leave then that's going to change. You haven't treated me like every single other person has, you haven't hovered around me, stood in the way of anything. Yes, I know it was only a week but I don't think you could ever fully understand what that week as it was meant to me. And the little time I had on my complete own with it as well. I know that my dad isn't going to leave me here alone and, you know, that's even okay I guess. But... but if you leave then it'll be someone else. And I know, I just know that things will be back to as they always were. Whoever it may be will be someone who's trying to impress my father with their care taking skills or are too afraid something will happen to me if I'm not in their direct sight twenty four hours a day or just something stupid like that. And I can't do it anymore, Angelus."

Angel let out the large breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding in. He closed and rubbed his eyes for a moment then sat down on the edge of his bed to think for a minute.

Yeah, he already knew everything she'd told him. He knew what her life had been like, what she'd been kept from. He knew it was pretty wrong of Ethan too and had brought it up too many times to count. The little she'd ever been free to do he knew he was pretty much completely responsible for.

Hell, he'd had to keep Ethan in check when he realized she'd taken off. That man had a tendancy to overreact about many different things in this world, but when it came to her... he really didn't want to think of what could have been.

He knew he would have thought differently and been acting just as crazy if he hadn't seen her as she made her great escape. That look on her face as she realized she pulled it off... Angel didn't know how she managed it or how long she'd been planning such a thing but damn, when she did...

He was happy for her, was proud of her, but it didn't take that long for other emotions to hit him too. There was the worry... and the loss. He really hadn't expected to miss her that damnmuch. But fuck, there were no words to describe what he'd been left to go through.

"Please?" he heard her voice call out.

He realized he probably had remained silent for a bit too long.

Angel smirked again and looked up at her. "Any other reason you might like to keep me around?" he asked and chuckled as her eyes widened and she blushed yet again.

"Wh.. what? N... no," she stuttered out. 'Liar,' rang through her head.

He quirked his lips. "Too bad." Then Angel paused for a moment. "I'll think about it," he finally told her, silently adding 'Honestly, it just depends on how bad your dad decides to piss me off before he leaves.'

Buffy gave a tiny smile his way. "Thank you."

Angel gave her a nod.

"Uh, well, okay then. I should, you know, go... let you get some sleep. God, I am really sorry for just coming in like this. I know you're probably worn out and all."

Angel missed the other side of this girl. "Wait a sec," he called to her as she began to turn around, a smirk back on his face. "I really hate to have to ask, but could you do me a favor?"

Buffy chewed on her bottom lip. "I guess?"

Angel took a moment to decide if he was really going to go there but he chose to go ahead and blame it on the drugs later.

Standing, Angel took two steps forward to stand before Buffy then he smiled and lifted his arms above his head. "You mind helping me with this?"

"Wh... what?"

He did his best to make his smile look a bit more sheepish. "I was putting off undressing figuring it'd probably hurt to move around so much," he told her then lowered his arms and shrugged. "If it makes you uncomfortable then don't worry about it, I can take care of it."

Buffy went back to chewing on her lip, her eyes looking anywhere but him, and they were as big as saucers, and of course, she was back to a nice shade of pink.

Angel let his arms criss-cross and his hands went to the hem of his shirt and began to slowly pull it off... but then she stopped him. "N... no, it's okay," she told him in a quiet, a bit shaky voice. "I can help."

Angel paused and felt his heartbeat begin to race again. His hands dropped and he stared at her until her eyes met his. Then he raised his arms again and felt his body stiffen in anticipation.

Buffy let out a deep breath then let her hands wander to him. As she began to lift the shirt upward she broke eye contact, afraid of the look she saw in his eyes, more afraid of what he might possibly be seeing in her own.

Going slow, Buffy told herself that it was to be careful about his wounds but really she was just enjoying taking him in. The man not only looked like some sex god, but he had the body to prove it after all. Even if it was still all banged and bandaged up, you had to appreciate it.

The white tee shirt that she adored on him so much slid over his head and down to the floor, and before she knew what she was doing, Buffy felt her hands reach out for him once again.

Buffy felt as though she were in a trance or something, her hands running through his hair, down his face and neck, down his chest and abdomen.

"Buffy," Angel breathed out, his voice husky, when he couldn't take it anymore. Her eyes popped back up to his and he groaned at what he found there, a second before she realized what she'd been doing and that cleared a bit into something else.

"Sorry," she whispered. "I should really... uh, go."

Angel let her take a few steps before he went after her, grabbing her arm gently and spinning her back around to face him. "One more thing," he whispered.

Buffy looked him oddly for a moment then he felt himself smiling as it changed more into a look of anger than anything else. How he had missed.

"I am so not helping you with your pants Mister," she told him, her voice as strong as she could make it at the current moment.

Angel chuckled and shook his head, leaning closer to her as he effortless had her backing up to the door. He knew he was walking a very dangerous line right now but wasn't planning to care. "About the kiss at the hospital," he whispered, his face merely inches from her own, "Since I was almost completely out of it, I don't think it technically counts."

Buffy swallowed hard. "O... Okay then."

He chuckled again. "But... but I'm pretty much back to normal now so..." he trailed off then gave one last hard look into her eyes before his closed and he leaned the rest of the way to her.


	9. Chapter 9

It had started with her knees, but soon Buffy felt as though her whole body was a trembling heap of mush. After all, Angelus was pratically making love to her mouth here.

That was the only way she could think of how to describe what this man was doing to her. A Second First Kiss sure as hell wasn't going to cover it. By a long shot.

Every kiss, every move he made was perfect. Nice, slow and easy. Yet everything he did seemed Earth shattering, powerful and _hungry_. Everything seemed to have a purpose, a deeper meaning behind it that she couldn't even beginning to comprehend at the given moment. And he certainly seemed to know what he was doing, making Buffy hope she wasn't making a fool of herself due to her inexperience with these sort of things.

As if sensing her worried thoughts, Angelus closed in on her just a little bit more. This little bit of added pressure had a bigger effect on her than she would have imagined though.

Suddenly, she craved more. And lots of it. She wanted his whole body to be blanketing her, pressing hard into her, completely trapping her between him and the door behind her.

Moaning, Buffy wrapped her arms tighter around Angelus' neck and pulled him even closer to her. She was pretty sure she felt one of those irritating, irresistible, arrogant smirks of his in passing cross his lips before letting them return to hers, but she was too busy focusing on the hand crawling underneath the back of her shirt to really care.

There was a low growl that came from deep within him though that she couldn't ignore even if she wanted to when his hand continued upward until he was passing underneath the back of her bra, right where the clasps to it laid. Buffy shivered from the touch of his very warm, very strong hand and she felt more than heard the second growl.

"Angelus," she moaned, arching into him, her mind going back to her needy wants with a few new additions to her little fantasy... like, say... making the two of them a little less clothed and giving a whole new meaning to the 'pressing hard into her' bit.

Before she had time to fully realize what she was thinking about and lusting for and then get all flushed and embarrassed about it, Angelus murmured something against her lips. It took her a few moments to realize what he had said, her mind was a bit muddled with everything else going on, but as soon as she did she felt a whole new rush run through her.

'Angel.'

One of her hands slid up his neck and buried itself in his hair, grasping tight, pulling him as hard as she could to him. The other had a mind of its own, slipping in the other direction, exploring his very naked, hard, and beautifully tempting chest.

Buffy whimpered when she felt his hand retreating from her shirt and nearly did again when she felt it reach out to grab her more explorative one and began pulling it away. She didn't have time however to and any noise she might have thought about making died in her throat when he pulled her hand down to his straining erection.

Buffy stilled, her eyes popping open before rolling back in her head as he guided her along. He'd lightened his kissage after she became stiff in his arms but did not stop.

When he felt her fingers first begin to twitch, the kiss intensified again.

"Angel," she moaned breathlessly and he all but lost it.

Angel barely even remembered to be careful of his more major-like injury as he did his best to devour Buffy. Hell, he could hardly remember _anything_ at the moment. He also couldn't feel anything other than her right now, but somehow, somewhere in the back of his mind he knew once she was out of his arms, if he wasn't just a little careful, he'd be hurting later if he moved too fast, pressed too hard, or twisted the wrong way.

He also had that tiny, nagging reminder in there of the more painful consequences that could come from this. But for just right now, he really did not want to care. About _any_ of it.

Angel removed his hand from hers and returned it to under the back of her shirt, almost getting it crushed as he closed almost all of the space left between their bodies and pressed her back hard against the door. Buffy moaned and then surprised the hell out of him when she squeezed his jean-covered aching manhood.

He was surprised by all of this really but he _really_ had not expected her to take everything _that_ easily.

He was counting on her to be the one to stop this before it got out of control, instead she was pushing him on.

Angel hissed out a few curses then roughly cupped the back of her head with his other hand. "Buffy," he hissed quickly before crashing his lips down to hers, drawing blood. He wasn't finished but she spoke before he could.

"A... Angel... I... I want..."

"Liam?" Ethan's voice rang out softly, along with a low knock. "Are you asleep yet?"

"Fuck!" Angel hissed, quickly removing himself from Buffy. _Too_ quickly.

Angel felt his stab wound protesting in full force and then he had to cause more damage when he jumped back to catch Buffy as she started to fall.

"Shit!" he hissed out.

"Liam? Are you alright?"

"Yeah," he ground out, "Fine," he lied. He did get some satisfaction from knowing Buffy was all weak in the knees and unable to stand because of him though. And from the dazed look she still had on her eyes... the flushed skin... swollen lips... heaving chest... Angel groaned again, silently cursing himself, her and Ethan some more.

Angel heard Ethan saying something else but for the life of him, he couldn't make a word of it out. His eyes locked with Buffy's as he held her up a bit more straighter and could not look away. She whispered his name and he heard nothing else.

Well, until the door started to open anyway.

The door had been unlocked to let Buffy in and so he knew in seconds this tiny blonde's father would be entering. Not that he thought Ethan wouldn't have entered anyway if he really wanted to but this sure as hell made getting that job done a lot easier.

"Liam? Are you..." Ethan stopped mid-sentence, mid-step and did nothing but blink and stare for many too long moments. "..alright," he finished with a whisper finally, his eyebrows shooting up and a grin just beginning to take over his face.

Buffy hurried to detach herself from Angel, missing the ridiculous amount of happiness radiating off of her father. She was too busy having reality rush back to her, scaring the living daylights out of her.

"Daddy no," she whispered, unsure if anyone even heard her.

Boys just out there in the world were one thing, but _his boys _were a whole other story.

Buffy felt her stomach drop as she let images hit her of what she imagined what might happen to him, the least damaging being fired but things could get a lot worse from there. And she was more than sure that they would.

Regular boys didn't get anywhere with her, never had, never would. That's how it seemed anyway. For as long as she could remember. Buffy could remember countless times where they'd been scared off, usually just by looking at her. Her father was the worst of them all but his boys did a hell of a job, too. And _they_ knew damn well to stay away from her or there would be hell to pay.

She'd heard the threats being dished out, they knew when they started this gig what the last thing they should ever want to try was. Of course, there's always a few too dumb to pay attention. And then would come the yelling, the punches being thrown, bones being broken. She could remember seeing and hearing such things as clear as day.

Her father never left her alone with anyone new, never with anyone he didn't know and trust, but she wasn't exactly kept away from anyone either. So, every once in a great while things happened. Of course, nothing ever as serious as _this_ had ever happened. Nothing even anywhere near close to it.

Angel sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Something you need, Rayne?"

Buffy's eyes flew over to him. Her heart was ready to beat out of her chest with worry and he... he just seemed too damn relaxed! Hell, he even seemed tired and... and _annoyed_, of all things! She couldn't believe it.

She truly hoped her father wasn't going to charge him, she was pretty sure she was too shocked to move anytime soon.

Ethan chuckled lightly, opening his hands up in front of him. "Well, I was just coming to see if you knew where my daughter was since she wasn't in her room," he chuckled again. "I guess I got my answer."

Angel glanced over at Buffy. "You should probably get back to bed," he told her softly. He looked away just as quickly and sighed again, walking uncomfortably over to his bed to take a seat.

Buffy opened her mouth but still could not manage to make any real sound come out. She shook her head, or at least she thought she did and looked both men over with wide, scared turned confused eyes.

Something was off, she began to realize this once a bit of the panic went away after no blood had been shed, punches thrown, or really anything at all.

"Well," Ethan spoke again after a few silent moments, "I must say, it's about time that you..."

"Shut it, Ethan," Angel cut him off. "Nothing is going on."

Ethan sighed and ignored the death glare coming his way. "Liam, must you be so damn stubborn?"

"Yes, now drop it."

"Oh, for crying out loud Liam! I do not understand you."

Angel sighed, loudly, dropping his head in his hands for a long moment.

Finally he looked up, looking Buffy over quickly then returning his gaze to his boss. "Not now, Ethan, okay?"

He was about to respond, but Buffy couldn't stay quiet another second. Unfortunantely, she blurted the first thing that came to mind. "I was trying to convince him not to leave!"

"For fuck's sake," Angel muttered, letting his head fall back down.

Her face started to burn, more so as she heard her father's laughter bounce off the walls. "So _that's_ what this was?" he asked, amused. She blushed even harder but also felt her mouth gaping open in shock of the new kind. This was not any expected reaction. "Did it work?"

Buffy only continued to stare, completely confused. And embarrassed. 'What the hell is going on here?' she wondered.

"Liam?" Ethan called out.

Angel raised his head again. "I don't know," he answered tiredly.

Ethan looked him over and decided it was better to drop this for right now. Pushing him wouldn't help anybody.

They were going to talk about this though, once and for all. It just wasn't going to be tonight.


	10. Chapter 10

"I'm no good for her, you know that," Angel said, leaning his head back and closed his eyes for a few moments to try and get his head on straight.

His voice sounded tired and defeated, reflecting how he felt quite well.

His whole body currently felt like it was throbbing in pain, making him all the more aware that it was past time to have taken his medication. He really wasn't hurt _that_ bad compared to most of the things he had been through in his life... _but still_, getting roughed up in a free for all in which you are not able to even lift a finger to defend yourself was never really all that much fun.

His stab wound really wasn't that bad either, the bleeding had been the real issue, and some might say he was lucky that it was only what it was... but that still hadn't made it any walk in the park.

Then top it all of with some more damaging whacks to the back of his skull. Yep. Good times.

Pushing himself sure hadn't and wasn't going to help anything. He knew that he'd left the hospital way too early, even for what he considered close to nothing, but he was stubborn and went and done it anyway.

Ever since then he'd been pushing himself harder than he should, something he was also well aware of. But... that was just his nature. No matter the price.

He was also tired as hell. All these drugs, the pain, the everything going on... it was all wearing down on him. He had some trouble sleeping through the night after what had gone down, even with a large amount of drugs, but they'd done the job well enough.

And Angel was way over and done with whatever was going on with Ethan this morning that wasn't making his day any better. Ever since he'd hobbled down here, Ethan had begun and had not let up since. For once. And it was just not the day for it...

He had managed to keep his feelings out of this... for the most part, managed to never own up to anything, managed to always avoid Ethan when it came to this... came to her.

Now that was all going to hell.

They had fought, which had honestly been the best part of it and a bit entertaining. After all, who else got to ask their boss and someone they'd probably even consider a close friend "What the hell is _wrong_ with you? Do you honestly want me to sit here and explained to you how badly I want to fuck your daughter?" and get away with it?

But Ethan just shook his head with a bit of a chuckle-slash-sigh and tried to steer the conversation away from the sex and into something deeper. Of course, that was the downside to it all, something that took him a moment to realize and then cursed himself out.

He'd only added fuel to the fire, giving Ethan that window and the man didn't want to drop it this time.

There had been the subtle remarks at first though, something that they always teased with. Angel was fine most of the time with that, and the snarky remarks that always came up after it went on for too long. Which, of course, it had. He knew Ethan knew. He knew Ethan knew he knew. He did not know why they couldn't just leave it at that.

There was a lot of things that he didn't know about when it came to this situation but he couldn't very well ask without having to answer a few things himself and he had tried for many years to not get put in that kind of position. And had done so perfectly until now, until he was actually around her and everything started to spin out of control.

Ethan opened his mouth to say something but closed it before any sound came out. He tilted his head slightly and stared over at Angel with an odd expression on his face. Their eyes held for a long pause, then Angel looked away with a sigh and the two sat in silence for what felt like a lifetime.

"Liam," Ethan's voice finally rang out, breaking the uncomfortable quiet, making Angel let out a rather audible sigh.

Another bout of silence came before Angel took another deep breath and then looked over at his boss. "I'm not, Rayne. I'm never going to be."

"If I thought that you weren't good enough for Buffy, do you really think we would be here now?"

"Ethan, she is your _daughter_."

"Yes, I am aware of that."

"_She's your daughter_. You're very young, very innocent daughter."

"And you're you?"

Angel nodded.

"I know who you are, Liam. I know who you are, what you've done, what you are more than capable of doing."

"And yet, here we are."

OoOoO

"You're in love with her."

It felt like an eternity before he spoke, but Angel had answered, his voice sounding completely foreign in that moment. "Yes, Rayne, I'm in love with her."

Buffy kept playing it over and over in her mind.

She hadn't heard what came next, Angelus had stood and started for the stairs slowly, which forced her to retreat from her hiding place as she listened in on the intense conversation they'd been having all morning.

She'd been worried about him all night after their run in with her father, unable to sleep, and unable to check up on him for fear of making it worse so this was the best she could do.

She had no idea this was to come. It did happen to make sense of a lot of the strange going on between the two men though.

What didn't make sense was why. A lot of why's at it. Like why her father didn't care this time, why not with him. Why he let him come here, why he was practically encouraging this.

What also didn't make sense was why Angel felt this way. How it came to be. Another thing left unclear was what, if anything, he was going to do about it. What _she_ was going to do about it.

OoOoO

Over the next few days Buffy managed to avoid Angelus, and she was sure he was going out of his way to avoid her as well. She also managed to avoid her father, his goons, and any of Angel's men as well for the most part, something she was also quite happy for. She didn't need anything more to deal with or think about.

But now her father was leaving and everyone who wasn't meant to be hidden away was gathered together to see them off. Including her.

Entering the room, all eyes fell upon her, all except the pair she wanted. He was acting as though she didn't exist at the moment.

Smiling, she chatted up with her father, promised to behave and to call, said their goodbyes and so forth.

And before too long, he was gone. They were all gone.

And she was back alone with him.

"You decided to stay?" she finally spoke, surprised her voice remained calm as she was anything but.

Angel finally turned to her, "What can I say? You were pretty convincing," he said with a smirk and chuckle.

Buffy gave an easy smile but felt like her body was on fire. She remembered that night, remembered the morning that came next. Which he had no idea she knew about. And she still had no clue how she felt about it or what to do with it.

Angel was sure he should probably say something about that night. Try and figure out if she was okay with what he pulled, with what happened. He knew that was a move more up her father's alley, treating her like a delicate flower, but he couldn't help it.

He also knew she was probably wonder why he was still here. She knew her father and how he was, he'd remembered her reaction and the fear she had for him when Ethan broke up their naughty adventure and had to be confused about all of that as well.

But he didn't want to go there. Instead, he sighed, popped a few pills, then excused himself, heading back for his room.

OoOoO

"I take it you've officially come out of the shadows?"

Spike threw down his cigarette and smiled Buffy's way. "Ah, what can I say? My cover has been blown."

"This is true."

"Plus, Angelus isn't exactly at one hundred percent so I'm helping to run the show."

Buffy smiled. She liked the Brit. He was fun. "Well, I guess complaining wouldn't do much good?"

He laughed. "No, probably not. Not that one such as yourself would even want to complain about yours truly," he smirked. "So where are you headed off to?"

Buffy rolled her eyes.

"What, I can't ask?"

"Fine, sure, I'm running over to Willow's for awhile. Happy?"

Spike smiled again. "Is that so? Well, you have fun. And be sure to tell her I said hi, would you?" he wigged his eyebrows.

"Oh, well now, isn't this interesting..."

"Maybe, but that's all you're getting for now. So go on, have fun."

OoOoO

"I think you have a not-so-secret admirer."

Willow turned to look at her friend, her face a mixture of surprise, hopefulness and terror. "Wh... What? Who?"

Buffy smiled, "One Mister William Pratt, I believe you may know him as Spike."

Willow turned a brighter shade of red than her hair. "I... What makes you say that?"

"Oh, just the way in which he told me to make sure I said hello to you when I came over. In fact, the rare sightings of him over the past few days, as he's pretty much the only person I spoke to since 'The Talk', he's always managed to bring up your name come to think of it."

"Oh. Well. Um..."

Buffy couldn't help but laugh at her friend. "You know, I'm the one supposed to be acting that way and freaking out as I have zero experience in these types of things, not you!"

"Are you trying to tell me that you _aren't_ freaking out?" Willow asked, hoping this would be a way out of talking about her, about Spike, and dealing with Buffy and Angel for awhile again.

"No, I don't know. Not in that way at least, well, maybe a small part of me is, but the bigger part of me... just is a mess. And... wants this. Wants him to do something about it, to take away everything else, including my frazzled nerves."

"You just want him to get you naked," Willow joked and the girls laughed.

"I can't deny I haven't thought about it. A lot."

"Well, maybe instead of waiting on him to come to you... you'll have to go to him?"

Buffy sighed. "Maybe."

OoOoO

After her long heart-to-heart with Willow, Buffy returned home, desperately hoping to avoid seeing Angel right now. She had one too many dirty images floating around in her head thanks to Willow's brilliant idea that she should practically seduce him and all. Which that alone was enough to surprise her as well, who knew Willow had such a naughty streak in her?

Ever since this man entered her life, Buffy had found hers, that she was sure of.

Luck, however, was not on her side. At least not when it came to her plan to sneak in and not see him for awhile.

"Hey," Angelus called out from the down the hall just as she reached her door.

Pausing, Buffy did her best to calm herself down, stop her heart from beating right out of her chest, her nerves from rattling her body.

"Angelus," she finally answered, turning around, an uneasy smile on her face but the best she could manage at the time.

And he looked just as, if not more uncomfortable than she as he walked toward her. When he was only about a foot away, he stopped, put one hand in his pocket and the other went to his head, rubbing the back of his head nervously as he looked anywhere but at her.

"It has been pointed out to me that I haven't exactly thanked you yet for, you know, probably saving my life with that call and getting me to a hospital and everything... So... I... just... Thank you, Buffy," he strangled out.

She would have laughed at this new side of him shining through if not for the tone in his voice, and that look in his eyes as he finally looked her way. "You're most welcome, Angelus," she answered him. "I'm glad you're going to be okay. And also, I should thank you for staying as well. You don't know how much this whole thing means to me." 'In more ways than one!'

Angel looked away again. "Not a problem," he said softly. "Anyway, that's all I wanted to say so I'm going to... go."

Buffy turned and grabbed for her door before pausing once more and swallowing down the large lump gathering in her throat before turning around once more. "Um, so are you doing alright with everything? Like, the whole, um, changing thing and all," she asked, unable to stop the blush along with it no matter how hard she'd been trying.

Angelus turned around. "I'll manage."

"Well, if you need me..."

That dark, lusty cloud settled around him once again. He looked as though he was going to take a step toward her but instead ended up turning around and walking in the opposite direction, calling out, "As tempting as that is... it's probably not the best ideas given what happened the last time, but thanks," over his shoulder.

OoOoO

_"Why not?" Buffy demanded as soon as his door creaked open._

_Angel rubbed his eyes and stifled and yawn as he took her in through his half-open eyes. "What?" he rumbled._

_"Why wouldn't this be a good idea?"_

_"This?" he questioned, eyebrow raised, looking much more awake._

_Buffy blushed. "This as in me, you know, helping you or whatever," she hurried out._

_He sighed, "I think the answer to that is quite obvious, Buf."_

_Buffy was silent for a long moment, then quietly spoke, "And this... this as in us."_

_It was his turn to leave them in silence, meeting her eyes as they raised and just holding them until a sadness washed through his dark orbs. _

_"Buffy..." he whispered, but said nothing more. _

_Instead, his hand reached out to stroke her hair, then her face, before reaching behind to cup her head, pulling her to him. He kissed her forehead softly, let his hand slide down to the small of her back, the gently leaned her back against the door frame. Once more, he took his time to drink her in before bringing his head down to hers and capturing her lips with his own. _

_It was a completely different take from the last time they were in this situation but it was still as passion filled as it had been._

_Circling her arms around his neck and giving herself space for a small push-off jump, Buffy wrapped her legs around his waist and completely molded her body against his. Her hips moved against his, feeling a hot, sticky pool of need forming, as well as a hardening manhood, as she moved._

_"You have no idea what you're getting yourself into," he growled, nipping along her neck._

_She didn't even care, as long as this didn't stop. As long as this progressed into what they both clearly wanted. _

_"I can tell you what I want to get into me," she said, playing off of his words._

_He couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Is that so?"_

_She nodded and bit her lip as he studied her face._

_"Well then, do tell," he challenged._

_Buffy figured she was always much better at show than tell so instead of answering him with words, she reached a hand down between them, unzipped the fly of his jeans, and reached inside._

_Angel groaned and bucked his hips as she stroked him, all but losing it right then and there. _

_When he couldn't take anymore, he grabbed her hand away and pinned it against the wall above her head. With his other hand, he quickly made an exploration of her covered breasts, stomach, then reached down to her own zipper and unfastened her jeans slowly. _

_He kissed her as his hand slipped inside, his tongue entering her mouth just as his fingers slipped inside her dripping sex and began pumping away..._

Buffy didn't know what caused her to wake up, but she was ready to hurt, kill, destroy whatever it was. She groaned unhappily into the darkness, feeling her body covered in sweat. She also felt her hand... apparently filling in for Angelus' and blushed despite herself and quickly pulled it away.

Something seriously needed to be done about this.

OoOoO

It was around noon the next morning when Buffy finally decided to brave this stupid idea. She was hoping to get him alone but could hear a distinct British accent conversing with him from the dining room.

Going ahead with her plan, Buffy came downstairs and joined them, smiling and greeting them.

"You hungry?" Angel asked.

She shook her head, walking past him to grab up an apple. "I'm good. Actually, I was thinking about going out to try that pool of ours finally."

Angel stilled for a moment then forced a smile. "Well, have fun."

Walking back to the edge of the room Buffy took a deep breath and looked over her shoulder at him. "I will," she said before dropping her robe to reveal her bathing suit... which would actually be a crime to call it such in her opinion. Upon seeing it she'd wondered why she didn't just go completely nude as it seemed like there wasn't much of a difference.

But she braved it, thanks to a lot of serious convincing.

Not looking back, Buffy continued walking to the back doors, opened them and headed for the pool, smiling to herself as she heard the sound of the drink spitting from Angel's mouth and Spike's hysterical laughter following behind her.

"Oh, this just got interesting," Spike quipped as Angel's chair went flying to the ground and his friend stood and then winced in pain from the sudden movements.


	11. Chapter 11

"What do you think you're doing?" Angel growled.

A painfully large smile took over Buffy's face.

Taking a few short moments, Buffy let herself enjoy the feeling washing over her before biting her lip, calming herself down, on the outside anyhow, and then leaned her head back into the water, looking at him upside down. She smiled, letting her arms float outward, her body straighten up and float on top of the cool blue water.

"Swimming, what does it look like?"

Her exposed body once again grabbed the attention of a group of teenage boys from a neighboring balcony. The hooted and hollered over to her their deep appreciation of the sight of her.

Boys who Angel looked more than ready to go over and kill at the current moment.

He gave them a hard stare down, his fists at his sides, jaw clenched, before turning back to her.

He couldn't help but appreciate the sight before him either. He stood entranced by the perfect peaches and cream overexposed flesh, the flimsy cloth hardly managing to cover what was left of her, the way the sun made random drops of water sparkle like diamonds, the tiny waves that lapped gently toward her face, legs, breasts and stomach...

Shaking his head, Angel growled again. "Not in that, you aren't.

"It's just a bathing suit, Angelus," she answered as though she hadn't a care in the world.

"And who exactly told you that?" he asked, almost making her laugh. "Get up and go change into something... a little more decent."

Buffy lifted her head and let herself sink back down into the water again. "Stop being such a prude," she told him, with a roll of the eyes, before flipping herself back over, this time letting her extremely nude backside shine toward the world. "It's just a bathing suit," she repeated, turning her face away from him as she couldn't contain the blush taking over her face.

At the sounds of more whistling and invitations to do some dirty acts, Angel just about lost it.

Ripping off his tee shirt, which came with a long string of curses at the amount of pain he sent shooting throughout himself once more, he threw it down across her exposed bottom, much to everyone's disappointment.

"Fine, if you refuse to go upstairs and change then you have to instead wear that."

Buffy was silent for a moment. "And if I don't want to do either?" she asked then turned her head back toward him, "Actually, I don't want to do either." She let one arm reach behind her and remove the large shirt, tossing it to the side. "Thanks though."

"Buffy."

"Goodbye now, Angelus," she told him, her head flipping back over as she moved slowly about the large pool.

Seconds later, she found herself not alone. Or floating above in the sunlight. Instead, she was being pushed down to the bottom, flipped right side up again, with Angel crashing down on top of her.

It was a moment he made for himself, private, for his eyes only. And it was a moment she knew would be replaying in her head from this point on.

The way the grainy floor scratched against her flesh, the weight of his body half floating against her, half covering her, the way his arm steeled next to her, his palm spread out against bottom of the side wall, the feel of his other hand caressing her leg, lifting and draping it over his backside, the look in his eyes as he drank her in, the fight for control radiating off of him.

And before she knew it, it was over and they were returning to the surface. His arms remained locked around her as he pulled her to the edge, climbing out and dragging her with him, covering her with his own body as he guided them toward the house.

"What do you think you are doing?" she demanded this time.

He picked her up and carried her inside, dropping her down where she'd lost her robe, which he grabbed for and threw at her. "Pool is off limits. New rule. Sorry."

"You cannot be serious."

Angel looked down at his dripping body, the puddle he was making at his feet, "I think I am. Now, go get dressed."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Unbelievable," she said angrily and made a show of stomping away.

"Smooth, Angelus, _smooth_," Spike called out with laughter.

"Shut up."

OoOoO

Groaning, Angel reached over and popped a few more than needed pills before getting himself out of what was left of his sopping outfit.

He kicked everything over to the corner of his bathroom the looked at the pile of his new outfit with a sigh.

This wasn't going to be fun.

Just as he slipped on his boxers, his phone rang. "Yeah?"

"Liam."

"Yeah, Rayne, what do you want?"

The older man laughed. "What is this I hear about Buffy being banned from the pool?"

"Well, that was fast," he muttered. "She was dressed inappropriately."

Ethan laughed again. "Is that so?"

"This isn't funny. _You_ would have thrown a fit."

"Instead you threw one for me?"

Angel rolled his eyes in the mirror. "You didn't see what she was wearing, or I should say, _wasn't _wearing. Now, should she decided to wear something... else, then we can talk about it."

"Right, right."

"Anything else we need to discuss?"

"Oh, I think that'll do for now."

OoOoO

Buffy stood at the top of the stairs and did her best to force away the true feelings fluttering inside, instead replacing them with false anger and annoyance before making her way back downstairs, joining Angel on the couch.

Angel took one look at her and completely burst into laughter. Real laughter. It was almost impossible for her to keep this going but somehow she managed.

Pouting as she slumped back into the soft cushions and crossed her arms over her chest with a "Hmph."

"You're being a little dramatic, don't you think?" Angel asked her, once more laughing at the sight of her in a snowsuit-like get-up. Hat, gloves, scarf, boots and the whole deal going on with it.

"Don't you?" she retorted.

He looked at her seriously for a moment. Which, was rather hard to do. "Maybe."

She raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, yes... _and_ no."

"Whatever."

"Just because you're being given freedom, for the most part, here doesn't mean every single rebellious thing you've got it in your head to do is a good idea."

"Whatever."

"Buffy..."

She ignored him. Several minutes later though she groaned and wiggled in her seat before hurrying to rip off some of the too many layers she had on. "Okay, we're just going to say my point has been made," she breathed out heavily.

He laughed some more. "I like you, Summers."

"Lucky me," she replied dryly, but hurried to hide her face as it lit up.

OoOoO

"So, how'd it go today?"

Buffy smiled and laid out on her bed, recalling today's events to her best friend, sharing a few more good laughs about it.

"Well, looks like we're off to a good start," Willow said.

She had to agree there. This plan was far from over though. But she was more than ready for it, she knew what she was chasing after and how badly she wanted it.

More than ever.


	12. Chapter 12

"Sir," the driver spoke, his eyes darting to his rearview mirror once again, "I don't mean to alarm you or anything..."

Angel's head slowly lifted from the report he'd been reading and raised an eyebrow.

"...But I think we're being followed."

Angel gave a lazy smile before letting his eyes drift back to the paper in his hands. "That we are."

The driver sneaked another peak in his mirror, both back at the car following him then at Angel. "You're not... uh, worried?"

Angel smiled again as he flipped the page he was on over. "Nope," he said, "It's just Buffy and that friend of hers. Nothing to worry about."

The driver let that information sink in for a moment before making a face. "_She's_ following _you_?"

"It would appear so."

"Why?" he blurted, his face burning red when Angel's head popped back up.

"I don't know," he did answer. He honestly didn't. He could think of several possible reasons, but none of them made complete sense.

She had been make a show of pulling all kinds of stunts the past few days though.

"Well, uh, do you want me to lose them or something?"

"No. Let them have their fun. For now."

OoOoO

"You know, I was kind of hoping he'd be a little more interesting," Buffy huffed out what was on both of their minds.

Willow nodded. Given everything she knew about Angel, and more importantly, everything she _didn't_, she'd been hoping this would be some sort of adventure. Instead, they were just watching Angel run errands it looked like. They were both happy to see him out and about again though.

OoOoO

Angel smiled to himself as he came out of the bank, this made it real, the meeting he had suddenly dropped in his lap.

He knew he shouldn't be happy about it, Lord knew Ethan wasn't, but he didn't care. This was doing _something_. Something other than walk around the house with a raging hard-on thanks to the little blonde girl tailing him around town.

The last few days had not been easy on him and he was thankful for a distraction.

Having decided he wanted to eat something before the meeting, and before having to ditch the girls, he directed them to a restaurant a few towns over then once out of the car. Angel straightened out his suit then casually walked over to where the girls had parked.

"Ladies," he greeted, smiling at their embarrassed faces, "Would you care to join me for late lunch?"

OoOoO

Despite Spike's instance that she knew_ exactly _what she was doing, Angel himself wasn't entirely convinced. He wasn't entirely convinced that she didn't either, though.

There were moments where he was sure she playing at something... then in the same breathe it seemed like the most ludacris of ideas. There was such a pure and innocent glow about her that it made him feel like he was just imagining everything.

In any event, he felt himself fighting with every bit of strength he had not to rip her clothes off and plunge deep inside claiming her as his own every time they crossed paths. Hell, even the mere mention of her name was enough to get a rise out of him.

And she sure as hell wasn't helping any.

Suddenly every time she said his name it sounded like it was just dripping with lust, like a lover calling him to her. Every time he saw her, all he could think about was the glorious skin she'd decided to share with the world with that incident with the pool, and about how it had felt under him from when they'd kissed up in his room.

And that kiss... the want to do it again was out of this world, especially given she seemed to be doing everything possible to always draw her attention to those pouty, perfect lips. Or to those dainty hands of hers, hands that he liked to imagine instead of his own every time he had to go excuse himself to take care of his growing issue, she had a way of making everything she touched suddenly turn sexual.

He remembered snapping at her just the other day for stroking her Sprite bottle a little too intimately for him, not that he told her that was what he was upset about of course. And whenever she wasn't taunting him with whatever inanimate object handy, she seemed to always find some way to touch him.

It wasn't always something to be in a suggestive way, unless of course you were him, but still... there were times when it seemed that way anyhow.

Like her new annoying habit of cutting in line to the fridge, bending to grab something all the while jutting her perky little ass into his groin, and just as he's ready to push against her, grab her hips and do something he knew he shouldn't... she'd straighten up, turn around looking as though nothing was out of the ordinary and walk away.

Driving him insane, little by little.

And right now wasn't any different.

He knew Willow had spoken to him many moments before and was looking at him waiting for an answer but for the life of him he couldn't make out a single thing she had said.

Tearing his eyes away from Buffy finally, which wasn't easy given she and her fork seemed to be having quite the time together, he did his best to wipe the sex-craved look from his eyes and smiled at the girl. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

Willow did everything in her power not to blush. Because of that look in his eyes, the way he was looking at her friend seated to the left of her since she'd gotten out of the car, the fact he'd caught them following them around and had yet to bring it up except for when the waitress had made some comment about the nice weather and he'd responded "Indeed. It's been a wonderful day for a drive, wouldn't you say girls?" with a smirk crossing his face, the fact he was breathtakingly gorgeous... you name it, she had every reason to burn crimson, but she did her best. "I was just saying I hadn't ever been here before, and asking if you had?" she replied shyly.

She just couldn't take the growing silence anymore. And she was sure he was going to pounce on Buffy at any moment if something didn't distract him soon, too.

"Oh. No, I hadn't but Ethan mentioned something about it to me, I just hadn't paid no mind until passing it by," he answered calmly, when he was anything but. "I've enjoyed it, though, I must say," 'Understatement.' "How about yourself, everything alright?"

Willow nodded and smiled brightly. She'd heard some rave reviews about this place too but had never been to it but planned to come around as much as possible after this. You couldn't deny food this good.

Buffy moaned softly, drawing both their attention again.

Willow giggled slightly, her eyes drifting back to Angel who was far beyond not noticing.

"So good," Buffy said with just a hint of sex dripping from her tone, then smiled it away. "Thanks for this Angelus," she then said brightly.

"You're going to be the death of me," he muttered.

OoOoO

"So, tell me, what do the two of you have planned for the rest of this wonderful afternoon?" Angel asked.

"Uh..." Willow began, another blush lightly staining her cheeks. Buffy wasn't close behind.

He chuckled softly. "Don't tell me you two were going to tail me around the whole day now."

The girls turned just a shade darker making him laugh again.

"So, uh, you noticed that huh?" Buffy asked sheepishly.

He nodded, taking a sip of water. "That I did. You two make for terrible tailers."

At this, Buffy smiled softly and rolled her eyes. She was sure his training in the area sure hadn't hurt, but she knew they weren't exactly up there on the most stealthy list. Especially when you add in the fact it hadn't been planned as something to do until the moment it began.

Not always the best course of action.

"Are...are you mad?" Willow asked.

He smiled reassuringly at the younger girl, "Not at all," he answered. "Just as long as you two don't make this habit. I get paid to keep track of you," he nodded at Buffy, "Not the other way around."

OoOoO

Glancing at his watch briefly, Angel then picked up the desert menu and looked it over to find something to peak his interest, same as the girls. Even with his increasing need for the blonde seated across from him he was actually enjoying this little get-together of theirs. It almost made him feel normal for awhile.

That was until he heard a voice from the past calling out his name.

"Well, well, well. Liam Angelus. What do we have here."

OoOoO

Both Buffy and Willow, and even the waitress who'd come by to refill their drinks, couldn't help but notice the sudden change that washed over Angelus.

It took one second for his whole demeanor to change. He looked completely on edge, his whole body stuff, face hard as a rock, eyes filled with icy-cold goodness.

"Gwen," he finally greeted, swallowing before turning in his seat to face the leather covered beauty. "You're quite a ways from home, aren't you?"

She smiled and slithered toward him, running a gloved fingered across the back of his chair. "I could say the same for you."

"What are you doing here, Gwen?"

She smiled again. "Who's your friends?" she asked, ignoring him, her eyes raking over Buffy and Willow, then Buffy again.

"You didn't answer my question."

"Business. You didn't answer mine. And what exactly are you doing here hmm?"

"Business. Although I would doubt the same kind as you."

"Pity," she threw him a quick glance, a hint of a sarcastic frown on her face. "I'm Gwen, Gwen Raiden," she then told the girls, holding a hand out.

Both Buffy and Willow looked toward Angel for help in what the hell was going on and if they should engage with this woman but he didn't seem to be of any use at the moment.

Finally Willow shook the sexy brunette's hand nervously and shot a small smile. "Hi, I'm Willow, pleased to meet you?"

Buffy shook her hand as well. "Buffy Summers."

Gwen gave another wicked smile and ran her eyes over the blonde once more. "Indeed you are."

"Let go of her hand now, Gwen. And do not touch her again," Angel warned.

"You're so touchy these days, Angelus. You used to be a lot more fun. What happened to that?"

OoOoO

"Gwen Raiden is here."

"Well, that's unexpected. I thought I recognized that hair and outfit."

"I need you to get a few guys together. Send her a message."

"You think she'd try something?"

Angel sighed, looking out the window toward his men who'd been following Buffy today. "I don't think she would on her own accord but she will if instructed. She's not going to keep her mouth shut, not to him anyway, about Buffy being here. I honestly don't put too much weight behind this train of thought... but I'd rather not take any chances."

"Do you know what she's doing here?"

"I have an idea... which, if I'm right, then she's probably only supposed to be here for a few days at best and at this current moment and time I'm not sure how long she's already been here so there's that... but when this news breaks... who knows, she might end up having to stay. For one reason or another. I just... I don't know," he sighed again.

"Well, we'll figure it out. You call Ethan yet?"

"No, not really looking forward to it either, but I guess I'm going to hurry up and do that."

"This message?"

"Yeah?"

"A violent one?"

"I don't know. I hope not. But I want it made damn clear to her that she's to stay away from Buffy, from me, from anyone who can be traced back to me in anyway. That I want her to stay the hell out of my business and I will stay out of hers." Angel stole a glance over his shoulder, eyeing Gwen carefully before looking back over to the girls. Buffy was burning a hole in him. "Look, I gotta call Ethan and Spike then head back out on the road, make sure you keep a close eye on her, huh?"

"You sure you still want to go through with the deal today?"

"Yeah, it's fine."

OoOoO

After making his calls, Angel felt drained. He knew this day and this drama was far from over. He was starting to feel a little careful what you wish for syndrome when it came to his wanting a distraction from issues with Buffy.

They had already finished with their meal before the interruption so that made things easy. He paid for the three of them, show Gwen one more look, then walked the girls back to Willow's car.

On the way, he pulled Buffy back just so. "Hey," he said softly, "can you do me a favor, please? Can you make sure you check in with Spike when you get back and make sure Willow stays at least tonight?"

"Why? What's going on? Why do you keep dodging questions about that girl?"

"I'll tell you about it later," she started to protest but the look he gave her made her shut up fast. "Please?"

Buffy stopped in her tracks and looked him over.

"Is everything okay?" Willow called back.

"Yeah, just give us a second please?" Angel threw back, never taking his eyes off the blonde's.

"Uh, sure."

"Something's wrong isn't it?" Buffy asked.

Angel sighed. "No, it's not. Not at this time. I'm not happy with certain things that have come up but it's being handled."

"Who is she?"

"Buffy, once again, we can talk about it later. Probably tomorrow."

She gave another look. She took her time, but finally she nodded. "Okay."

"Thank you," he said sincerely. He reached in his jacket and pulled out a sheet of paper and a pen, quickly jotting numbers down. "First two are me, I need you to put them into your cell phone's contacts. I'm not going to order you to, but I would feel a lot better if you had them on your speed dial list in case. The other's are Spike and one of my other men Gunn. If at any time you feel something out of place, I need you to do this," he demonstrated the signal, "and alert my team. If you want some other signal then think of it fast and let me know tomorrow. But I mean it Buffy, if anything seems off, if you feel or see someone watching you and it feels wrong, if you're worried..."

Buffy nodded again, growing more worried by the second.

Angel reached out to brush her shoulder, trying to reassure her that everything was going to be alright though he knew he wasn't exactly painting such a picture right now. "But let's make sure we only use it when we have to, not just to drag the boys out from the shadows so you knew who they all are huh?" he tried to lighten the mood.

It didn't work too well but at least she smiled some.

OoOoO

Buffy belied that Angel was trying to protect her by sending her and Willow back to the house, trying to make the whole lot of them more comfortable. But she also believed he was up to something. She didn't put too much behind that though, after all, she had been following him all day and keeping an eye on him since meeting him and there didn't seem to be much there in that sense.

When they got back to the house, Buffy did a quick scan of the area. It didn't help tame her fears any. She didn't see anything that seemed off but then again she never had.

She didn't know how in the world she was suppose to know if someone was following her when she hadn't ever spotted any of those who she knew were and were paid to do so.

Sighing, she made her way to the house, calling out for Spike. He did a decent job of calming the girls, however. He didn't want to talk about the situation at hand either though.

Excusing herself, Buffy got herself something to drink then called her father, leaving the two of them to flirt in private for a few minutes while she tried another way at finding answers.

OoOoO

It was a little after three AM when Angel finally made it back to the house. He didn't made his most graceful of entrances but he at least made it inside which he felt was accomplishment enough at the moment. He turned on the lights then growled before dimming them, hardly enough light shinning to see anything.

"Well, it's about time."

Angel stopped rubbing his eyes and looked up. "It's late," he stated the obvious, watching Buffy sit herself up on the couch. "You should be in bed."

"You have questions to answer."

"Not really the time for that, Buf."

"You've been acting weird since Miss Sexy Leather showed up. Why do I feel like I'm suddenly in a lot of danger?"

"You're always in danger, you're Ethan Rayne's daughter."

"Still not answering."

"And she's not all that sexy."

Buffy rolled her eyes at that. "Please. Women would kill to look like that, to have a body and face like that. _I_ would kill to look like that."

Angel tilted his head and looked at her oddly for a long moment before crossing the room, kneeling to the ground before her. "Buffy," he whispered, reaching a hand out to cup her cheek, "Men would kill to touch you, to be able to look at you. Men would kill to have you."

Buffy felt her heart race. "Sure, I'm Ethan Rayne's daughter. Of course the would," she bite out but Angel shook his head. "You avoid it," she blurted before she could stop herself. "You're so hot and hold. One minute you're making everything else fade away, you look at me or brush against me or whatever. You've kissed me like the world was about to end. But you avoid me. You avoid coming in contact with me, hell, it seems like more and more you avoid looking or speaking to me even."

Again Angel shook his head. "Believe me Buf, you got it all wrong," he whispered. "But this isn't the time for either of these conversations."

Buffy knew that. She was currently a mess, he obviously was too. And not just emotional trainwreck like she, though he was that too, had been since the leather bound woman, but she knew something else was up with him. She didn't smell alcohol so figured he must have taken something. It both surprised her and didn't, after all the man worked for her father.

It was late and they were both tired... and a thousand of other things... but she didn't really care.

He'd started to pull himself up from the ground but she reached up and tugged him back to her. "You don't have to tell me anything," she whispered, feeling her face burning redder by the moment, her heart picking up, "Just kiss me," she breathed, leaning closer to him.

Both surprise and pain filled his dark eyes, along with a hunger that shook her to her core.

"Kiss me," she repeated, leaning closer again.

"Why?" Angel breathed, grasping at any and all straws in his head to tell him and remind him that this was a bad idea. "Because you want me to or because I'm the only one who can and survive your father?"

Buffy nipped at his bottom lip. "Because I want you to, you have no idea how bad I want you to," she answered. "I can't deny that there is a part..." she didn't get to finish.

Angel's hand gripped the back of her head and crushed her to him. She was practically seated in his lap. Which she had zero problems with.

A few moments later, Buffy found herself being lifted slightly before laid back down on the couch, Angel's body blanketing hers.


	13. Chapter 13

Feeling Angel's hands slide underneath the bottom of her nightgown, Buffy felt her whole body begin to heat up to the point she was sure she'd burst out into flames at any given moment. He bunched the satin up around her waist, his hands sliding back down to her newly exposed flesh making her shiver.

"You okay?" he murmured between kisses, stilling his hands while waiting for an answer.

Hearing his voice, Buffy's eyes popped open, meeting his dilated pupils for a brief moment before he closed them, kissing her once more. "Uh huh," she barely managed to breath out the next time there was a moment slipped in for a chance to answer.

With that, he returned his lips to her own. Angel's hands began to explore her legs, hips, thighs... When she felt a thumb reach out to touch her in that very special place between those thighs, Buffy jumped, her eyes opening again and her teeth gnashing into Angel's bottom lip, drawing blood.

Angel pulled his head back after making a hissing noise, his hands quickly retreated from her body as well.

Buffy's mouth formed an 'O' as she watch his hand come up to his mouth, poking and prodding at the wound she'd made. "Sorry!" she rushed out, her own hands flying out to his face, inspecting the small mark she'd made, and trying to figure out how badly she must have just ruined this perfect moment. "Are you alright?"

Angel chuckled. "I think I'll survive." Angel shook his head a bit then took on a more serious expression as he looked down at her. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have..."

Buffy shook her own head at this and kissed his quickly. "No. No."

Angel's head scrunched up in confusion.

"I... I was just... surprised, that's all. You know... whole... uh... sometimes shy and inexperienced girl thing," her face began to burn brighter by the second, "But... I... uh... I don't wa...want you to be sorry about it. I want..." she couldn't even get the words out, she just kept sinking lower into the cushions underneath her, wishing they'd swallow her whole right about now.

Angel stared down at her for a long moment before reaching down to her, pulling her up to him, then moving them around until he could sit comfortably enough and pulled her into his lap once more, his hands brushing the hair from her face.

"You don't know anything about me," he told her softly.

Buffy's eyes flicked up before quickly returning into her downward stare. "But I want to."

He sighed, his hands going down to her sides, holding her closer to him. "I'm not a nice guy, Buf."

"You're nice to me," she offered.

He chuckled. "You do remember I'm the crazy man who threatened to tie you up if you didn't obey, for one example, right?"

Buffy smiled softly. "Sure, but I'm sure you'd have made it an enjoyable experience," she joked.

Angel shook his head and lifted his eyes toward the heavens. "Tease."

Buffy laid her head down on his chest, one hand snaking up to his chest, rubbing patterns on the material still covering him. "You work for my dad," she said softly, "So it's safe to assume you have a more colorful past, but you must be doing something right." Buffy's head tilted up to look at him. "I like you. You're nice to me and you make me happy. I like spending time with you, I like arguing with you. I fully enjoy kissing you."

Angel laughed but didn't say anything for a long moment. Instead, he watched as Buffy smiled at him then dropped her head back down, lazily drawing those designs on him still.

"Where's Willow?" he finally spoke.

"In one of the guest rooms."

Angel nodded, then sighed, then began to move underneath her. He carefully guided her with him, as they stood and then as they walked, leading her upstairs.

OoOoO

Somewhere between the stairs and her bedroom, Buffy found herself unable to even think. Angel's mouth was eating away at hers, his hands warm through the thin satin material. She hardly acknowledged crossing into her bedroom, the door shutting behind them, being walked backwards toward the bed until the back of her knees hit and she fell backwards onto the soft surface.

Her eyes's slowly opened, watching as he stripped off his jacket and then at least three shirts, and yet still returning to him in a small white wife beater.

As he carefully moved her a little more up on the bed, Buffy felt that burst into flames red taking back over, her heart trying to pound out of her chest.

"Angel?"

He kissed her softly. "Just relax."

"Yeah, that's not going to be happening."

He couldn't help but chuckle at that. "I'm just going to do as you ask, just going to kiss you." And with that, he did... then again, before moving toward her neck, kissing then sucking at her flesh. Making a wet line up her neck, Angel nibbled on her earlobe. "Everywhere," he whispered and smiled as he felt her shiver again.

OoOoO

Angel was making good on his promise, Buffy couldn't help but note. When he reached her breasts, she tensed up again slightly, watching in both horror and fascination as his face buried in her cleavage. His hands, which had for the most part kept to themselves, fisting into the sheets on either side of her, returned to her, cupping and pushing her breasts together, higher up on her chest, making them both moan. Angel's mouth sought out the exposed flesh of her twin mounds, kissing her greedily.

When his eyes lifted, meeting her own, Buffy shivered again. And once more when she saw one wickedly tempting grin cross over that gorgeous face of his.

Before she knew it, one finger hooked into the dress, moving the material to the side, enough for her hardening nipple to pop out and greet the world. She blushed as Angel's eyes left her and went to the pink tip, more so when his mouth began to go to it as well.

Buffy arched into him, her hands flying out to him, holding his head in place as he tortured her. She whimpered and thrashed about as his tongue relentlessly flicked at the tight knot, drawing a need to her she'd never known before.

He repeated the same actions on its twin. Buffy mirrored her own actions as well, only more intensified. Buffy watched as his mouth let go, heard the wet popping sound the action made. Her eyes stared on as his tongue came out, rounding circles around the hard peak.

Unable to watch anymore, Buffy closed her eyes and arched into him, her head falling backwards against the bed. Then, she felt herself being pulled lower, coming more in contact with Angel's body. Her legs wrapped around him and she shivered as something brushing against her clit, making her bite down again, this time on her own lip. She didn't seem to care though, her mind was focused on the emptiness in her core, the need for some kind of friction to help cope with what Angel was doing to her.

Without even thinking about it, her body began to move against him.

"If you don't quit that, I'm going to fuck you," Angel growled in warning.

Buffy's eyes popped open, but she couldn't get herself to stop. Quickly looking away from his eyes, Buffy looked lower, her eyes widening as she watched as her lower half moved on it's own, rubbing, rolling and sliding against his. 'If only there weren't all these clothes in the way,' she thought as her eyes started tilting back upward.

Angel made some desperate noise as their eyes met. "Don't look at me like that," he growled. His hands hooked under her arms and lifted her away before he lost what little control he had left.

Before she could begin to protest, his hands slide down, once again began pushing her gown up, this time up to the underside curve of her breasts, then lowered his head back to her, covering her small tummy with open mouth kisses, nipping lightly at her ribs.

Buffy giggled as his tongue dived into her belly button, then gasped as she felt him seek lower, his chin coming in contact with the top line of her panties.

Angel's hands rested on her hips, thumbs hooked into her satin underwear. He lifted his head up to meet her eyes widening by the second.

Buffy's blushed returned. She knew he was waiting for permission and there was nothing in the world she wanted to do more than give it to him, but through her haze she began to worry about things. Like what if he didn't like... her, the way she looked... down there, or tasted... what if she did something wrong...

Taking a deep breath, Buffy closed her eyes and nodded.

Seconds later, she felt a cold breeze hit her lady parts and she shivered. Once again when she felt Angel return to her, his warm breath replacing the cold breeze.

At the first lick, Buffy jumped again, only to have his hands firmly grab her hips and hold her down, never breaking his lapping rhythm. He took his time, slowly tasting her, his tongue barely dipping into her core, trailing up her slit, flicking at the hard bud seated up top.

When she felt she was about to explode, he stopped, making her cry out. His movements shook the bed slightly as he changed positions slightly.

"Angel," she groaned, just before his tongue, now a hard line, dove into her. She quickly began to thrash about, feeling him dive into her as deep as he could go, flicking in and out of her wet heat, circling and making patterns inside.

Once more, as she began to feel herself building up, he pulled away. She could almost feel the tears coming as she cried out his name again.

Angel gave a small smile at her, kissing her lightly covered feminine mound. One hand left her hip, sliding down to dance around her swollen bud, before sinking into her. Buffy bucked against him, crying out his name along with heavy pants. Slipping another digit to join, Angel's mouth sought out her pretty pink pearl.

Buffy babbled incoherently as he worked her. Her hands dug into his hair, both pushing him closer and pulling on his dark locks as if to pull him away. He did his best to keep her still but pretty soon she was hard to control, moving against him, wanting release. "Please, please, please," she began to chant, hardly understandable.

Angel let a third finger join the others, he heard Buffy both gasp and hiss at the new intruder and slowly pumped the trio until she grew comfortable with the feel of it. When he finally decided to take mercy on the girl, he began to pump his hand faster, his mouth sucking her clit harder, loving how responsive she was to everything he did.

Feeling the first light flutterings, Angel bite down lightly and bathed happily in the sound of her screaming his name as she violently came.

Angel chuckled to himself as he stared at her, completely dazed off in her own little world, her body shaking from after shocks. Slowly, he began to lap at her sex again, cleaning up every last drop of her sweet honey.

"You're going to make it start all over again," Buffy breathed after the stars in her eyes began to dim just a little.

Angel chuckled again. "And this is a bad thing?"

Buffy thought about that for a moment. "No," she panted, "Probably not."

Angel pulled himself away though, smiling at her as he lowered her gown back down. He crawled up her body, taking in one nipple at a time one more go around through the light material, before he reached her lips, kissing her softly.

"You should get some rest."

Buffy blinked slowly as she watched him pull away, crawling off the side of the bed.

"Angel?" she called before he could reach the door.

His head turned. "Yeah, Buf?"

"Are you going to act like this didn't happen when the morning comes?" she asked him softly, afraid of the answer.

He sighed, his head leaning into the door. "No. I don't know what's going to happen now, but I'm not going to pretend this didn't happen."

"It...it's a good thing though, right?"

Angel gave her a small smile. "Yes. This was a very good thing. You should get some rest now though, okay?"

Buffy nodded. "Okay."

"I'll see you in the morning."

OoOoO

"Oh, fuck," Angel muttered as he finally stepped out of her room, closing the door behind him only to find himself joined in the hall by a platinum blonde Brit who was staring at him with bulging eyes. "No."

"'No' what?" Spike asked, unsure how he was even capable of speaking or even slightly understanding anything at this current moment.

"No, I didn't do whatever you're thinking. No, I don't want to talk about it. I'm going to bed."

Spike didn't know how long he stood there, his eyes still as wide as they could go, his mind spinning.


	14. Chapter 14

Buffy couldn't fall asleep. She was tired, she hadn't slept... and then there was Angelus exhausting her body out. But he also had her worked up, unable to come fully down for what he'd done to her.

Buffy blushed in the darkness, remembering him touching her. Her mind played the images over and over and she could almost feel his hands, his mouth, his breath on her still. She shivered at the thought, a rush running through her she couldn't explain.

Finally, she gave up. She knew sleep wasn't coming her way like this.

OoOoO

Buffy chewed on her bottom lip and danced on the heels of her feet for a long while before gently knocking on the door. And when there was no answer, she knocked again, just a tad louder.

She was about to try one last time when it opened, revealing Angel to her as it cracked open.

Buffy sucked in her breath at the sight of him. She was sure he'd have that effect on her forever, but it couldn't be helped. He was unnaturally perfect in every way.

Angel leaned an arm up in the door frame and squinted his eyes against the dim light of the hallway. "Buffy?" he spoke, his voice tired, husky from sleep.

She now felt even more foolish.

Buffy gave an embarrassed smile. "I... I couldn't sleep," she finally said, feeling lame.

He closed his eyes for a long pause. Next he opened the door a little wider and stepped to the side to allow her inside.

And once inside, Buffy suddenly wondered what the hell she'd been thinking coming down here.

"Angel, I..." she started but couldn't finish as the dark man came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her. Buffy cuddled into him as he held her, kissing her hair.

Buffy turned slowly in his strong arms to face him. Angel's head tilted and he peered down at her for an eternity before both bending to kiss her while picking her up and bringing her up to him halfway. Buffy went with a smile on her face and in her heart.

He started walking them across the room until reaching the bed. He put her down on the foot of the bed then began moving them both towards the top. He laid her head softly against his large pillows and looked down at her. His hands brushed against the sides of her face, out against her feathered out locks.

Angel let a finger slide from the middle of her forehead down the curve of her face. "You are so beautiful, you know that?" he whispered.

Buffy blushed. She knew she'd never in a million years understand why someone who looked like him was saying that to her.

He lowered back to her, his mouth touching hers, giving her a whisper of a kiss. He did it again before suckling on her bottom lips for a moment then kissing her again, deeper. Buffy moaned, her body tingling.

OoOoO

When he woke, many hours later, Angel found his favorite blonde still in his bed and in his arms. He sigh, his face nuzzling into her neck. Angel's arms tighten lightly around her.

Buffy mumbled his name, her back scooting as into him as it could go.

It wasn't too long after that that he felt her stirring. She yawned, mumbled some more, her body stretching against his.

"Good morning," he whispered in her ear, trying to will away the pain in his head.

She let out a moan before turning in his arms. Now facing him, she snuggled into him, one leg hiking up over his body and her hand playing on his chest. "Morning," she told him, her eyes closing.

Angel smiled at the picture she made.

"This feels way too nice," she said, her eyes still closed.

Angel sighed, his hand rubbing her back gently. "Buffy," he said after a few moments and heard her groan at it. "I'm not any good for you," he told her softly.

"I think you already said such last night," she answered back.

"Still remains true."

She looked up at him. "And I don't know anything about you?"

He sighed. "No, you really don't."

She shrugged against him, putting her head back into place on his chest. "Well then, tell me."

Angel closed his eyes, going silent for awhile once more. "I ran a deal for your dad last night," he finally told her. "That's not been in my job description for a long ass time now... but it happens."

"I know who my father is, Angel," she said in response, it not phasing her a bit.

He didn't expect it to.

"Someone out in the area was supposed to... but things happened and..." he trailed off. Buffy didn't say anything. He sighed. "I used to work for Martin Rack. That's how I know Gwen."

That had her sitting up, her eyes wide. "What?"

"Gwen works for him, did when I was still under him as well. She's how I got involved with him actually. Gwen is pretty much his favorite pet out of the bunch."

Her eyes remained wide. "Wh... How..."

Angel rubbed his pounding temples. "I've known Spike pretty much my whole life," he told her. "We crossed paths so many times, it wasn't even funny. We didn't grow up too far from each other and both became street rats about the same time. After that, we saw more of each other, and actually started to get to know one another a bit. Every once in a great while we'd hang out or go to a party, go rob some store, steal a car, do some drugs. Whatever we felt like in that moment. We'd just see each other and have some fun here and there."

Buffy remained silent.

"One day, I was doing some business at a local dive when I met the leather-clad Gwen Raiden. She wasn't my type but she was pretty persistent. It turned out she was more interested in my set of skills but... yeah. Anyway, I wound up meeting her boss and he offered me a job. I turned him down, at first, happy doing my own thing. But I came around in time. As for Spike? He'd stolen one of your dad's cars. Boosted it on a whim. Ethan found him and was impressed and laid a job out on the table for him."

She remained silent, but had a tiny bit of amusement now on her face.

"Spike started working for Ethan, doing this and that. He ventured him out on different areas of his life and his business and continued to impress him. One day, he was coming back and overheard your dad talking about an issue they were having. He offered up his services, which Ethan appreciated, but then explained the situation a bit better to him, feeling comfortable enough to apparently. And then that's when Spikey decided to mention me. Apparently, he had sung my praises enough that it peaked your dad's interest in me and started looking into me."

Buffy shook her head, still silent.

"I guess he liked what he found out... the only issue would be I was part of Rack's crew. And by this point, I had been for awhile. In Ethan's digging, he also found that I was one of the biggest reasons that business was no longer doing the best." Angel shrugged. "I was good at my job and it was showing. That only interested Ethan in turning me more. But first, he had another plan in mind. I was climbing the latter for your father's competitor and I had a good reputation going. I had long before I even started working for Rack, so that only made me more of an asset. Your dad found a way to get to me, and he offered me a job. Not to switch over to his team with pushing but instead... Ethan wanted me to be his inside man."

Buffy's eyes widened again. "Are you all out of your mind?"

He chuckled. "Was a long while ago, Buffy," he told her then continued after a pause. "Ethan had been wanting someone inside for a long ass time. He'd sent a few people in to work undercover but they were always found out before anything got anywhere. And then he thought of turning me, someone already inside and trusted. Hell, Rack thought of me as the son he never had," he said, shaking his head.

"So why did you do it?"

Angel shrugged. "I was in a bad way at that time in my life. I remained sharp when I needed to but my day-to-day was nothing short of a hell. Your dad offered me a better deal and better pay."

"Simple as that?"

He shrugged again. "I don't think I was really calculating the huge risk I was taking. I didn't look too much into the future or consequences of actions."

"Doesn't sound like it," she muttered. "I'm surprised you're still alive."

He smiled a bit at that. "Rack found out and he was not pleased with me. His anger is what saved me though," he told her. "I'd been working for your dad for nearly a year while spying and reporting about his operations. I have no idea to this day of how he found out, but he did. And instead of being smart about it to get me out of the picture and show me and everyone around him a lesson, he was so furious he blew up my phone screaming bloody mary. Saved my hide in the process. I told Ethan what was up and he came and took care of me. I'd been in there longer than he'd expected or even planned so he wasn't upset that my cover had been blown. In a lot of ways, he actually seemed glad that I was. Ethan took me in, cleaned me up, gave me a new life. Over time, I became his right-hand, jack of all trades man.

"He likes you."

Angel nodded. "He does, has. I do a good job and for whatever reason he keeps trying to better me, even in working for him, to rise above that kid roaming LA streets."

"Martin Rack must still hold a grudge."

"Oh, he does," he replied. "Hence the weirdness from the run-in with Gwen."

OoOoO

Angel got up to use the bathroom and when he came back out, Buffy was still on the bed shaking her head.

"That's quite a tale," she told him after a moment. Her eyes raised to meet his. "Still doesn't scare me away from you though. And I still don't see how you're such an awful person."

"I've done a lot of shady business for your dad, Buf."

"My dad runs a shady business," she countered. "And I don't think any less of him."

"Not saying I do either or that you should. I'm saying I'm just not good for you. Ethan's spent a lot of time keeping you pure and innocent in all of this."

"And what? I hook up with you and suddenly I'm going to... what? You think I'll just fall into some bad lifestyle?"

He shrugged. "I don't know what I think when it comes to what if's. I just know who you are and who I am and I have a lot of demons inside of me and forgotten along my path."

Buffy cocked her head to the side, looking him over. "Why would my father approve of you then?"

Angel closed his eyes. "That's something yet to be found out."

OoOoO

Buffy went back to her room to change and get ready to go downstairs and eat breakfast. She had a bit too much on her mind though so it was taking forever.

Grabbing her phone, she called the familiar number of her father to see if she couldn't get some more answers from him.

As they spoke, Buffy asked him Liam Angelus' history, both in his life before and his life in their world. She asked about what he'd told her earlier and what he hadn't. Ethan hadn't been too forth-coming but he told her some of it, giving her a little clearer picture of things.

"Why him?" she asked. She'd about hung up the call but couldn't stop herself.

"Why him what, dear?"

She sat back down on the bed. "Why are you okay with me being with him?"

"I didn't know you two were together, did I miss something?"

"No, and stop avoiding. He keeps pushing me away. But that is besides the point. Why him?" she asked again.


	15. Chapter 15

Angelus had made good on his word. He hadn't acted as though their night hadn't happened, but he had also done everything possible it felt like to make sure another one didn't come to be. After that, he had suddenly become busy and hardly ever around, and when he was it was still like he wasn't. Buffy had tried talking to him about it but it was always the same thing with him. She tried flirting and enticing him but he'd always shake himself from the lust-filled haze.

It was growing to be quite frustrating.

She'd tried similar tactics to the swimming pool incident and such but still, nothing was ever a go.

Sighing, Buffy wallowed to her friend about her life's drama.

Willow patted her friend then smiled. "You know what you need?"

"Yeah, I'm just not finding a way to get it," she mumbled.

Willow laughed at that. "Come on," she said and led them over to a small ice cream truck stationed across the way. "Ice cream helps everything gt better," the redhead said proudly.

Buffy shook her head but smiled. She did have a point. It may not fix things but it sure didn't make anything worse. It did make things a tad brighter in Buffyworld, too. So together they looked over the menu as they waited in line.

When they got to the front, they placed their orders and Buffy found herself being hit on in a very goofy manner by the guy working the truck. She didn't have any interest in him but did find him to be rather funny. And also struck an idea inside of her.

As they got their treats, Buffy smiled. "You know what, Will? It does make everything better."

"Oh, no. That sounds like a plan a'brewin'."

Buffy's smile grew.

OoOoO

It was later in that evening when Buffy set out to find her handsome watchdog. She stood in the doorway for a moment before taking a breath and coming inside to take a seat. His eyes looked up but then back at the paperwork in his hands. Again Buffy straightened herself up and then spoke. "You know, Angelus," she began. "I've been thinking."

"Mmhmm," he answered absent-minded.

"You were right."

"I usually am," he replied, still not seeming to be paying much attention.

Buffy narrowed her eyes at that then rolled him. "Yeah, whatever. You were right though. About this, you and me."

At that, she watched him stiffen just a bit.

"You and me... probably not a good idea and all," she continued.

He swallowed and was silent for a few moments. "Well, I'm glad you understand that," he finally said.

"I do," she said with a nod. "But... but given that you are obviously not the guy for me, that just means there's that someone still out there."

Buffy could feel the tension build in the air around them. "Okay."

Buffy laid her hands flat against her thighs. "So I talked to my dad earlier, and after a lot of convincing, he finally came around on the idea of letting me date."

Buffy watched his fingers try to choke the life out of the book in them. His head finally turned, his eyes dark orbs as they burned into her. "What?"

She nodded, a smile on her face. "Trust me, I'm as surprised as you, but he agreed."

"Why would he do that?"

She shrugged. "Maybe he's finally understanding that I need to live a life."

Buffy didn't mention the part where she had explained to her father it all being a ruse.

OoOoO

Angel paced the floor of his bedroom. Finally grabbing his phone, he dialed the man he wanted to strangle.

"Liam," Ethan greeted.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're letting her date?"

"Oh, that."

"Yes. That."

Ethan sighed. "You're there to make sure she should stay out of trouble in that area," he told him. "But... She's right, Liam. She deserves to be happy and have some normalcy in her life from time to time. Going on a few dates isn't going to kill her, it'd be good for her."

Angel stood in disbelief in the middle of the room.

"And what? I'm just supposed to sit back and let this go on?"

"Well, you just go about your job as you wish," he was told. "Unless of course you feel to do something to change her mind."

Angel growled at that. "Is that your play here?"

"No, just making a suggestion, Liam."

"Unbelievable," Angel muttered.

OoOoO

Buffy smiled as Angel returned. "Did you confirm it okay?"

He growled. "Fine," he said. "You can date."

"I already knew that," she said, a twinkle in her eye.

He growled again. "Just don't go around bringing home any hippies or something, okay?" he said then stalked off.

"I'll see what I can do!" she called after him.

OoOoO

"Operation: Find Buffy A Boyfriend To Make Angel Jealous."

Buffy laughed. "Apparently so. Now as for the guy..."

"Yeah. Do you think we should find someone who knows it's all for show?"

Buffy thought for a moment. "Probably. I mean, I don't want to use anyone and end up with feelings hurt or anything like that."

"That's true. Hmmm. This could be tricky."

"I'm sure we will figure something out. So far, it's going pretty well."

OoOoO

Willow was all smiles a few days later when she spotted Buffy getting closer. She waved her to hurry up.

"Is he here?" Buffy asked, looking around.

"Yeah, he just went to use the bathroom real quick."

Buffy smiled and took a seat. "You order yet?"

"Nope, waiting on you."

"Cool," she said, grabbing up a menu. She tried to calm her nerves about all of this.

It wasn't long before she felt another figure near by.

Willow smiled brightly again. "Buffy Summers, meet my cousin, Riley Finn. Riley, this is Buffy."

"Hi," he said, taking her hand when she offered. "Nice to meet you."

Buffy smiled at him. "Nice to meet you as well. How have you been enjoying your stay so far?"

"It's been... interesting," he replied.

Willow laughed. "Take a seat. It's about to get a whole lot more interesting for you 'cuz."

And with that, the girls started bringing him fully up to speed with things. Willow had already told him and offered him a part in it all. Luck had it that he and his parents were coming down to visit them for awhile so it all seemed like a perfect plan. There was just some working out the details.

OoOoO

"You look like your head is about to come popping off the rest of ya mate."

Angel growled.

"Mmm. Buffy out with this Finn character again eh?"

"Yeah."

"Want me to run a check on him?" Spike offered.

"Already did."

"And?"

"And nothing. He's clean. He's some middle-class Iowa farm boy. He's Willow's cousin down for a few months. He works at Walmart back in his podunk home of nowhere. He's thinking about joining the Army as his father and grandfather did before him. He's had two long-term relationships in his life. He's a straight A student. He's never done a single goddamn wrong thing in his life."

"Except maybe date your girl," Spike muttered earning a look. Spike glanced up at the clock. "It's a little late though isn't it?"

Angel growled, rubbing his eyes. "Yeah." Angel grabbed his phone. "Where the fuck are they doing now?" he said into it, not even giving Gunn a chance to say anything.

"Um.. I kind of don't want to answer that," Gunn said in response.

Angel set his jaw. "Why not?"

"Um...well..."

"Well?" he ground out after nothing else came after.

Gunn sighed. "They sort of pulled into a motel..."

Angel's phone went flying across the room, crashing into it with a loud snap, breaking and pieces going every-which-where.

"Give me your phone," he growled at Spike, now standing, looking quite erratic.

Spike gave him a look. "Why? So you can throw it at the wall too?!"

OoOoO

Angel wasted no time heading out, back on the phone with Gunn, ignoring his employee reminding him that murder was still illegal. He got the information for where they had gone then hung up, making it there in no time.

Angel got out of the car and went up to the room, about taking the door off the hinges. "Out."

Riley, shirtless, on top of an also shirtless Buffy rolled to the side of her then stood. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Out," he repeated.

"Buffy is..."

"Finn," Angel said cutting him off. "I have a shitload of weapons out in my car that would make you weep upon the sight of them. I really don't feel like messing with them or with you. So last chance of me saying this. Out."

Riley's eyes widened. He looked back at Buffy then Angel again before leaving.

Angel followed him, slamming the door after the blonde man got outside.

"What are you..." Buffy finally spoke.

"Shut up," Angel growled. He turned around then began pacing the small room's floor. He thought he was going to get sick.

"Angel, what are you doing here?" Buffy asked again after several moments.

"What am I doing here?" he said. "What the fuck are you... Are you really that deprived that you feel the need to act like a whore, throwing yourself at anyone who pays the slightest amount of attention to you?" he snapped.

He knew he'd hurt her with that. And also pissed her royally off.

Buffy flew off the bed and came at him, her hand smacking the side of his face.

OoOoO

Buffy did feel angry and she did feel hurt but she also kept in mind it was going with her plans, too. But she couldn't stop herself, one again, when it came to need to smack that man across his face. But, once again, when she had completed the task she felt fear creep back in, especially when looking at him. That dark looming cloud circled around him, his eyes went from dark chocolate to a pitch black.

Buffy took a step back but was quickly grabbed and pulled forward, roughly pushed into the wall. Angel's body covered hers and she moaned heavily when he kissed her.

Angel pinned her hands above her head with one of his while the other snaked between their bodies.

Buffy let out a strangled breath as he undid his belt then pants, letting them fall down to the floor with a jingle.

Next, his hand went to work on hers. Angel undid the button, lowered her zipper then stuck his hand inside. Buffy bucked under him when he connected with her, then closed her eyes and let her head fall back as his fingers began to work her.

When he lowered her to the ground, she nearly fell over, her legs too weak to balance her. Thankfully, he was there to keep her steady. Angel let her arms go and used both hands to slip her jeans and now sopping wet panties down and then off of her.

Angel kissed up one of her legs, then in between them, but didn't linger. He continued up her body, kissing her at random, his hands cupping her breasts when he reached them, his thumbs teasing her very erect nipples.

Closing around her neck, Angel bent to capture her lips. Before long though, those hands were moved back down, hiking her legs up to his waist.

Angel stared at her while positioning himself at her entrance. Buffy sucked in a breath at the feel of the very tip of him touching her. He kept himself there, using his thumb to start teasing her swollen knot.

Before Buffy knew it, she was being built up all over again. And as she started to crash, he entered her body.

Buffy bucked against him once more, pain and pleasure searing through her. She felt Angel shake, stilling, holding them as steady as he could. She felt his breath on her neck before he kissed her there. Next going to her chin, her cheek, her mouth.

Buffy arched into him as he kissed her deeply, pain retreating, want growing stronger.

She felt his body start to rock slowly, his throbbing manhood moving inside of her.

OoOoO

Buffy placed an hand down on the dresser next to them to have a little more balance going as their bodies went at a frantic pace at one another. She was sweating and her body singing, her legs threatening to go numb.

When her flutterings began, they really began to give, her arm to. Angel caught her easily though before messing up their stride. He managed to hook his arms under her to hold her up, as well as opening her more to him.

Buffy let her legs drape over his arms, nearly lifeless, enjoying the ecstasy.

He slammed hard into her with a grunt, joining her in bliss.


	16. Chapter 16

Angel's entire body felt like jelly. Somehow he managed to carry Buffy over the small bed in the room and he laid down, bringing her on top of him. She cuddled up on his chest, looking like she just won the motherload or something. His heart pounded, breaths still coming out hard.

Angel closed his eyes as reality start coming upon him over what had just taken place.

"You okay?" he finally asked, his hands rubbing down Buffy's back.

Buffy's fingers lightly tapped against his chest. He could feel her smile against his skin. "I am way better than okay. I am... amazing," she told him in a breathy whisper. "That was..."

"Not supposed to happen," he lightly finished for her. He'd have said he didn't know what came over him but that'd just be a lie, one both of them would know. He knew there was an angle to all of this but he didn't like any part of it, then this... well, it was just crossing a line he couldn't quite deal with. "I'm sorry, Buffy," he told her.

She propped her chin on his chest to look at him better. Angel opened his eyes feeling her staring. "Please don't do that."

"Do what?"

"Act like this wasn't supposed to happen, or that I wasn't wanting it to, that I didn't know what I was doing. Stop trying to find faults in everything."

"I don't have to go searching for reasons, Buffy. Things just are."

She sighed. "I like you. You like me. Sometimes it is as simple as that."

OoOoO

After getting dressed, Angel drove them back to the house.

Buffy's hand was tangled up in his own as they went inside and headed upstairs. Sighing, he brought her to his room and slept next to her through the night.

He was losing his resolve about this more with every passing second. He still knew how wrong it was, it was the caring part he was having trouble keeping a handle on.

OoOoO

"Your boyfriend is probably not going to be too happy about all of this," Angel whispered in the morning.

Buffy let out a soft bark of laughter. "He's not my boyfriend. He was just part of the plan to try and get you to be."

Angel's face nuzzled in her shoulder and neck. "You want me to be your boyfriend?" he asked with an amused undertone.

Buffy thought for a moment. "Yeah, though... you don't really go together with the word do you?"

"Not exactly," he told her. Angel closed his eyes, kissing her skin softly. "It'd be a bad idea, Buf. You and me."

"Then make it into a good one."

OoOoO

Buffy was feeling a little stiff and sore from the previous night, so when she finally made herself crawl out of Angel's bed she headed to her own room to grab a change of clothes and then go to her bedroom to take a long soak with tons of bubbles.

It also gave her a little alone time to let everything sink in on her.

She couldn't help but smile at the thought of her now-lover. She hadn't expected things to go that far last night by any means, but she wasn't complaining. Not to mention she could see Angel losing the battle against her and she could only imagine what that would have in store for her in times to come.

It was true, maybe she didn't know what she was getting into. But that didn't mean she didn't want to find out.

OoOoO

Buffy was just coming out of her bathroom when she found Angel in her room. He looked pale sitting there on her bed. "Angel?"

"You need to pack a bag, I don't know how long but..." he trailed off.

"What's going on?"

He sighed. "Ethan's in the hospital.

"What?" she asked panicked. "What happened? What's wrong?"

OoOoO

Angel sat in the back of the car with Buffy, he held her hand and told her everything was going to be okay.

Earlier, he had explained enough of what he had been told but figured some of it should be left to doctors, or better yet to Ethan.

Suddenly, a lot of things became a lot more clear for him with that phone call from the hospital. Apparently, he was put down as an emergency contact and Ethan had been rushed in and they were running into a number of complications with him.

He hadn't even known Ethan was sick. He noticed some changes in the older man but his mind had never even come close to going down this route.

It was apparent Buffy, nor anyone else, seemed to have known about it either.

The doctor had explained enough to put a lot of things in order with recent events. He was understanding a lot of things now, getting a lot of unanswered questions found out.

And it pissed him off to no end.

OoOoO

Ethan was still unconscious when they arrived. Angel helped Buffy inside, trying to help in any way that he could. And he stayed until visiting hours came to an end. He asked if she wanted to stay there or go home then had them brought to the house.

Angel wasn't going to stay but he didn't feel right leaving here in the house by herself when they got there so he grabbed their things and followed her in.

They slept together in her bed, whispering in the dark until sleep had taken them over.

OoOoO

Ethan Rayne threw his tray across the room with all the strength that he could muster, yelling at the poor nurse who had come to check on him, then another two and a doctor.

He'd been informed of his latest episode and his current condition and complications. He had also been informed of the hospital having contacted Liam and telling him everything, as well as the fact his employee and daughter had come to visit him.

Thus, making a mess of his plans, no doubt.

Liam was sure to be angry, had to have figured things out, at least for the most part. And that was not what he needed at all.

He'd put too much into this for it be ruined now, before it could all be put into place.

He knew it was a big enough risk even before, and if things had gone entirely according to plan, but this... this was unacceptable.

He knew he didn't have that long left, not after all of this, and he didn't need this kind of a problem. But, he would just have to deal with it it seemed. Figure something out.

He knew it wasn't to be easy though.

First, there was having to tell his daughter the news, the whole lot of it. He'd have to break her heart, telling her she would soon be losing him. Then... there was Liam, and wanting him to keep his girl safe after he was gone.

He knew in simple terms that would be easy, all he'd have to do is say the word. No problem. But he wanted more than that, for both of them and for his own peace of mind as the end came.

He was going to make this right, one way or another.

He could only dread on the how and things in the meantime though.


	17. Chapter 17

Ethan sighed. He was tired and it was the middle of the night but he had a visitor. Liam had showed back up, angry, having bribed his way back.

He let the younger of the two rage on, question him. And then he finally tried to explain and give some of those answers he was looking for.

Ethan explained to his employee when he had first started getting sick, but how he had brushed it off. He had for quite some time in fact. Then, when he finally had the sense to go looked at, that's when he'd gotten the bad news. Ethan told him everything the doctor had said to him that night, then explained the excuse he'd given back then and what had really happened when it came to surgery and recovery.

Ethan explained what options he had been given, and what all he had refused and why. But what he had agreed upon and been doing, until one by one, they all stopped working for him.

He explained why he had let Buffy go, even with this, why he had deprived her of the small time she'd have left with her father.

He explained that when she fled, he had every thought and worry when it came to that. To bring her back, to keep her close, to have all the time they could together. But then he thought of how much it would rip her apart to see him like this as he slowly faded away, so he thought it could just be a blessing in its own way. Yes, he did a good job of hiding it most of the time, but he couldn't always, nor could he forever. And he was sure she'd catch on long before he was ready for her to.

There was also the fact of letting her go on her own, for her, to see how she would do. He needed to make sure she could survive without him.

And that is also why he'd brought him in.

Ethan confirmed he wanted him there to watch her, and for all the things well beyond that. They both knew he'd wanted for a long time with that, but here was why he was pushing it, and everything he truly wanted from it.

Ethan explained, not for the first time, why he liked him so much. Told him he knew he could be so much better than all of this, and he would be. That after he was gone, Liam Angelus was to get the hell out of this life. He told him he and Buffy would be well taken care of, but they were out, and would free and clear of it all... they just had to take a few steps for it.

His business would continue after his passing, but that would be neither of their concern. It was all already taken care of on that end.

Ethan told Liam that yes, he sent him there to fall in love with his daughter... well, more in love, and for her to do the same. For their bond to grow, so much so that when he would decide to tell them, he'd be there for her and it would be set in stone of their place with each other. And that his daughter would be loved and she would be safe and she would be happy.

That this was the best thing that could happen to any of them.

OoOoO

His meeting with his daughter was painful, tear-filled. He held her as she cried, cursing the fate of losing both her parents in similar fashion already at such a young age. He whispered to her everything was going to be okay, and how he was so glad she was there.

He told her about his illness and what plans they had for him next Buffy told him she would be moving back home. He tried to change her mind but she wasn't about to budge.

Some of her questions had come from Liam earlier as well, and he repeated the answers, at least to some extent. She wasn't given all the information on things as he'd been.

"I'm scared."

Ethan pulled her closer. "I know you are, dear," he said with a sigh. "I love you, Buffy."

She hugged him, tears soaking through his hospital gown.

OoOoO

As the days went on, more complications arose, and Ethan began to worry that he had far less time left than he'd been planning on.

He spoke with his doctors who didn't exactly ease those worries. Ten made the decision to go home. They warned him, but he was understanding this turn of events. And he knew he had no desire to die there.

OoOoO

Ethan's last days were hard, but he enjoyed them. He spent time with his daughter, looking over old pictures, talking about old memories, telling new stories to one another, laughing.

Liam had come around very rarely, mostly he stayed ducked out of the picture. And he could see how it was upsetting Buffy.

He tried to tell Liam, talk sense into him, but that didn't seem to be going over all that well.

His employees were wonderful, friends too. They had a lot of love their way, support, gifts and food brought over as the news spread. Thankfully managing to stay on their side of things til the end.

Ethan wasn't ready to go, he knew that. He loved his life, he loved living it. But he knew that wasn't in the cards for him in this life. And he at least could look forward to seeing his love again.

OoOoO

Ethan Rayne sat in his study, looking around, remembering so much of his life here. He smiled at the photographs on his desk, framed pictures through the years of his family.

He'd thought Joyce was an angel when he met her, and he had always treated her as exactly that. Even with being the kind of man he was, that was one thing he had done very right. Buffy being the other. Nothing had ever been perfect, but he was proud of the family he'd gotten.

Ethan finished putting the last of his affairs in order, then he sighed. Going over to a leather couch in his office, he smiled, looking at the large portrait of his late wife that hung there.

Ethan started humming the old "I'll be seeing you" tune.

OoOoO

Buffy screamed. And couldn't seem to stop screaming.

Employees of her father pushed past her, rushing over to Ethan. They moved around, tried to revive him, used his phone, tried to speak to her.

She couldn't seem to hear anything though.

She was in shock, she couldn't process this. It wasn't true. It couldn't be.

But she knew it was.

Crying, Buffy stepped back, then kept going backward. People continued to try and speak to her but she ignored them, unable to understand or interact.

Buffy turned, ran downstairs and out the front door. And about ran over someone in the process.

A long haired man stood before her, looking worried. He spoke to her, touched her gently.

In all the haze, she heard him say Angel's name. All she could do was nod. She let him lead her the rest of the way, putting her in his car, and driving.

When the car pulled to a stop in front of a large house, Buffy flew out of the car and went running up to the front door, pounding relentlessly on it until it opened.

Angel answered and she flung herself into his arms.


	18. Chapter 18

**Well. I had a lot of plans for this story, a lot of ideas that started in earlier chapters that will just have to be left as they are. I decided to not drag this one out any further, it's been unfinished for so long and as much as I love this one, I'm ready to move on. Maybe I'll write a similar one down the road, use those unused ideas. Who knows. But for now, this story is at a close. Thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoyed**.

Angel sat in the dark, just a dim lamp on close by, giving enough light for him to re-read a long letter Ethan had written and left for him.

His late employer had been laid to rest earlier in the day. Or given the time, he supposed you'd have to say yesterday technically now. And it hadn't been easy on anyone.

Buffy was upstairs, asleep in his bed. Some place she'd gotten familiar with since her father's passing.

He'd bedded her for the second time hours ago. He'd been sleeping in a chair in the room when she woke him, climbing on top of him, begging him to make her feel better, to help her forget for awhile. He couldn't deny her, those pleading eyes. He couldn't deny his selfish want, having craved such to happen again. And this time, to be able to do things right.

And he had done his best to. Their second coupling being much different than the first. He wasn't in a jealous fit of rage, it wasn't rushed. He took his time, made her feel loved, not just wanted. He was slow, tender.

He had fallen asleep after, but found it hard to stay under. So now here he was.

OoOoO

She'd shown up here after finding him. He'd held her, asking her what was wrong. When she finally got it out, he'd felt his heart break. Both for her and for himself. Ethan was a huge part of his life for so long, he'd always done right with him. Hell, he was sure Ethan had probably saved his life.

After that, Angel found himself by her side at almost all times. He'd taken care of her at his place, then taken her back when she felt ready to go. He'd been there through questioning, through family and friends coming to show their support for her in such a tragic time. He had her at his place more and more, she'd hated being in the house without Ethan. He took her wherever she need to go, got her anything she needed. He'd been with her at meetings she'd had to go to, things to deal with her father's estate, and he'd brought her along to his similar ones.

Angel had gone with her to make the final arrangements for her father. He'd put his input in a few times, but mostly agreed to whatever she thought was best. And when the time came, he sat beside her as the service ran on. He held her up as she had to say goodbye for the last time. He'd carried her from the cemetery, bringing her home and putting her to bed.

It'd been several hours later when she woke, undressed, and got him up.

OoOoO

Angel finished the letter then sighed. He rubbed his tired eyes with one hand, setting the pages to the side. He had no idea what he was going to do now.

Ethan had left him well taken care of, and given a way out of the life by it all. Though he didn't know what that meant for him from here on out. But he'd just have to see.

He knew he wanted away from here, from all of it. He didn't need this life anymore.

But what to do...

OoOoO

Buffy swallowed, stepping closer before taking a seat. She looked down for a moment. "He told me you'd avoided me until coming to Sunnydale."

"I did," he answered.

"Why?"

Angel shrugged, then took a sip of his ice water, grabbing a few more things to sort through.

"H...how long had you known of me?"

Again, a shrug. "Known of you? Pretty much since I'd started working for him. Not right off the bat but close enough. I hadn't seen you or really knew anything about you for awhile after that. It's been a number of years."

Buffy felt a little pitter-patter of her heart at the thought of him being there, even if at such of a distance. "Why come to Sunnydale, then?"

"What's with the questions, Buf?" he asked, looking over his shoulder at her for a moment.

Buffy looked down again. "Just trying to understand some things."

He sighed. "I don't know. I can give you a list of partial reasons but there's not one that just jumps out."

"Did you plan on being with me?"

Angel stilled at that for a moment. "No," he answered. Then, "I don't know," he added.

Her lips tugged a tiny bit behind him. She was silent for several moments, watching him. Then, "I heard you," she said. "With Dad. You told him you loved me."

Angel stilled again, his jaw setting in a hard clench.

"I don't know what surprised me more," she continued. "Hearing you say it, how it made me feel, or the fact he was okay with it. Hell, encouraging it."

Angel's hands fell down to rest on the large cardboard box in front of him. "Yeah," was all he could say.

Buffy swallowed again. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"When? And why would I? I was there to make sure you were okay and to watch over you. Yes, both me and Ethan might have thought of more than that, but that was what it came down to. I didn't need to be losing sight of that." Angel turned around slowly. "I was fine trying to keep things under control. Playing around was fine, but no good could come of anything going beyond that. I knew that."

"Things did happen. Nothing bad came of it."

He sighed. "You don't see it, but I do, Buffy. You have this idea in your head about me, about us now. Because of that."

"How is that a bad thing?"

"Because you're not looking past these feelings you developed all because of the wrong damn reasons. Because of how this all went down, and how life has been for you, I come along and am the first person to give you any sort of freedom and experience in anything and that clouds your judgement."

Buffy glared at him. "You really think that this is what all this is about? Really? That I'm just clinging to you because you were there, the first thing that came along?"

Angel sighed again. "In a way, yes."

Buffy stood up, clearly angry.

OoOoO

Angel didn't see her for days after that conversation. She'd stormed out like a bat out of hell after cursing at him. He felt bad, in many different ways, for many reasons, but he just looked at maybe it was all for the best this way.

Fate wasn't seemingly on the same team though.

When she'd come around again, she was still angry. He'd opened the door to his home, almost all packed up now, and brushed past him. He'd barely had time to shut the door when she spun around on him. "Ethan Rayne ran a drug business," she said. "He sold guns and weapons. God knows what else. I'm fairly certain he'd murdered or had quite a few people killed. But you know what? He loved me, he loved my mother. He was a good husband and a good father."

Angel held up his hands in surrender at her tone. "I'm not saying any different."

She took a step forward. "And yet you can't see any similarity there? You can't see that hey, maybe you had some bad things go down in your life, made some choices you're not all that proud of, but hey, maybe there's something good in you? Maybe you can become something better?"

Buffy stepped forward again, her hand cocking back and she slapped him. "Stop doing that!"

Angel's eyes flashed in hot anger. This girl had a hell of a history of doing that.

Buffy was unnerved by the look he shot her, but that was about it. "I was grateful for the bits of freedom you offered, Angel. I was curious about a lot of things. That is true. But you know what? I liked you. I was scared of you, but I was also insanely attracted to you. I wanted you. You felt right to me. You made me feel safe, you made me feel normal. You made me laugh, made me want to do anything to make you laugh. I loved seeing you look at me like I was some magically being almost. When I found you that night, almost bleeding to death down on the sofa, my heart hurt at the thought of losing you. And when I kissed you before they took you off, I'm pretty sure I knew then that I was done for when it came to you."

Angel's hand went to rub the spot absent mindedly.

"And after... these feelings just kept growing. And I didn't understand them, and maybe in some ways I still don't, but they're real, Angel."

Angel sighed, stepping forward this time. He pulled the small girl into his arms.

"Tell me," she whispered.

Angel kissed the top of her head. "I love you," he whispered. "I have for a long while."

He felt her body shudder a little. "I love you, too," he got in response. She snuggled in closer to him. "Please don't leave me here."

Angel sighed, closing his eyes.

"I don't have anything here anymore, Angel. And I don't want it. I just want to be with you."

"I'm leaving the country, Buf. Starting fresh."

"Take me with you. Hell, Angel. If nothing else, you know it's safer for me than being here now. Being anywhere just about."

He knew that. He was sure that Buffy could handle life on her own. It was just her ties to her family that were an issue. Not that that was going to be the main reason he'd agree to this.

"Please take me with you. Be with me. Stay with me."

"That's a tall order, Buffy. And I don't know what the hell I'd do if you up and change your mind if I give in here."

Buffy's face tilted up so she could look at him. "I'm not going to. Never. This is a new chapter, for both of us, our lives. And I want to see it play out, you and me, from here til the end."

Angel bent his head, tasting her softly. "If you disobey me, can I still threaten to tie you up?"

Buffy smiled against his mouth. "Still think you're in charge of me, do you?"

"Knowing you, Buffy Summers, somebody has to be."

She smiled again at that. "Well, as long as you promise to go through with it if I do. The idea isn't quite as scary as it was at first," she told him.

"Mmm. I guess we'll just have to work on that then?"

"Does that mean a yes?"

He was silent for a long time. Then, kissed her again. "I'm done fighting you. Fighting myself. If this is a bad idea, I don't want to care about it."

Buffy smiled brightly. "That's as good of an answer as any."

OoOoO

Buffy stepped further inside what was to be her new home. She was carrying a stack of light boxes in her hands as she looked around.

Angel followed behind her about a minute later. He slipped his sunglasses off, folding them and tucking them into the neckline of his shirt. He leaned in the door frame and watched her look around. "Seem familiar?" he called out.

Buffy spun around, not having heard him. She smiled at the sight of him after the shock though. "It's very... Sunnydale-ish."

He smiled. It was. Not exactly by any means, but it had some of the same features, and more so the feel. "What can I say? I'm not ready to give up on all the memories of my sorted past just yet."

She chewed on her bottom lip, her face still in a smile. "It's perfect."


End file.
